I like the idea.  Keep the wood grain, but beef it up in areas where it needs it, making a new concept for chassis rifles.

The same concept, by the way, is used in engineered floor joists, i.e., press wood using glues, and there is no way the historic Southern White Pine floor joists can compete with engineered joists in strength.

Looking on their web site, it doesn’t appear to me that they sell this with the barrel or action – it only comes as a stock.

Oleg Volk:

Reflective optics for artillery have been around since before World War One. With the massive rounds of the Great War, it makes sense – who would want to put their eye next to a scope ocular on a rifle with enough recoil to give shooters a black eye?

At first, these ambient light and half-mirror, “powered” reflex sights were confined to artillery and aircraft. They were simply too bulky and too daylight-dependent for small arms use. After World War Two, reflective optics were offered for sporting guns but were not considered suitable for individual military weapons.

Photo, Oleg Volk

The first “red dot” in relatively wide military use was actually an Armson OEG (occluded eye gunsight), a fiber optic presenting a bright dot to the dominant eye but occluding the target from it. The occlusion guaranteed a high-contrast aiming point, while the non-dominant eye would see the target, and the brain would superimpose the two for a sight picture. Although useful for short-range aiming and quick in use, OEG sights did not gain overwhelming popularity.

Around the end of the 20th century, the battery-operated Aimpoint red dot sight went mainstream with the US military as the M68 Close Combat Optic. Unlike a reflector sight that used a flat half-mirror and a lens-collimated optical source outside the line of sight, the M68 uses a curved semi-reflective mirror to direct the reticle toward the shooter’s eye. The use of a single-wavelength LED permits a long battery life and also allows the passing of all other wavelengths of light through the half-mirror.

There’s some history; read the interesting breakdown of advantages and disadvantages at the link. As always, readers’ insights and experience are welcomed.

Excerpt from Faith Very Simple, by Charles Spurgeon:

“TO MANY, FAITH SEEMS a hard thing. The truth is, it is only hard because it is easy. Naaman [2 Kings 5:1-12] thought it hard that he should have to wash in Jordan; but if it had been some great thing, he would have done it right cheerfully. People think that salvation must be the result of some act or feeling, very mysterious, and very difficult; but God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways. In order that the feeblest and the most ignorant may be saved, he has made the way of salvation as easy as the A, B, C. There is nothing about it to puzzle anyone; only, as everybody expects to be puzzled by it, many are quite bewildered when they find it to be so exceedingly simple.

The fact is, we do not believe that God means what he is saying; we act as if it could not be true.

I have heard of a Sunday-school teacher who performed an experiment which I do not think I shall ever try with children, for it might turn out to be a very expensive one. Indeed, I feel sure that the result in my case would be very different from what I now describe. This teacher had been trying to illustrate what faith was, and, as he could not get it into the minds of his boys, he took his watch, and he said, “Now, I will give you this watch, John. Will you have it?” John fell thinking what the teacher could mean, and did not seize the treasure, but made no answer. The teacher said to the next boy, “Henry, here is the watch. Will you have it?” The boy, with a very proper modesty, replied, “No, thank you, sir.” The teacher tried several of the boys with the same result; till at last a youngster, who was not so wise or so thoughtful as the others, but rather more believing, said in the most natural way, “Thank you, sir,” and put the watch into his pocket. Then the other boys woke up to a startling fact: their companion had received a watch which they had refused. One of the boys quickly asked of the teacher, “Is he to keep it?” “Of course he is,” said the teacher, “I offered it to him, and he accepted it. I would not give a thing and take a thing: that would be very foolish. I put the watch before you, and said that I gave it to you, but none of you would have it.” “Oh!” said the boy, “if I had known you meant it, I would have had it.” Of course he would. He thought it was a piece of acting, and nothing more. All the other boys were in a dreadful state of mind to think that they had lost the watch. Each one cried, “Teacher, I did not know you meant it, but I thought—“No one took the gift; but every one thought. Each one had his theory, except the simple-minded boy who believed what he was told, and got the watch. Now I wish that I could always be such a simple child as literally to believe what the Lord says, and take what he puts before me, resting quite content that he is not playing with me, and that I cannot be wrong in accepting what he sets before me in the gospel. Happy should we be if we would trust, and raise no questions of any sorts. But, alas! we will get thinking and doubting. When the Lord uplifts his dear Son before a sinner, that sinner should take him without hesitation. If you take him, you have him; and none can take him from you. Out with your hand, man, and take him at once!”

“Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” – 1 Peter 1:9

First, Big Banks And Credit Card Giants Just Greenlit A Plan To Track Your Gun-Store Purchases:

Last month, gun control advocates hailed the creation and adoption of a new sales code targeted at identifying purchases made at U.S. gun stores. The code was promoted as a way to help banks and credit card companies identify and “recognize dangerous firearm purchasing trends,” thus improving public safety. It won’t.

If anything, this new system, which is susceptible to widespread abuse, could have dangerous consequences. Thankfully, Republican members of Congress are taking steps to resist its implementation.

We stopped counting on Republicans a long time ago.

Next, EVOLUTION: DECADES OF DEER Looks at the most prominent hunting rifles of each decade since the 1950s.

Big game rifles have evolved continuously with the introduction of new models, new cartridges, new manufacturing methods, changing hunting conditions and methods.

I’ve illustrated some of the changes with hypothetical gun racks from deer camps beginning with the 1950s, both heavy cover whitetail hunting and open country mule deer and antelope hunting, as I did plenty of both.

What will the 2020s show?

Next, Hawaii Court Dismisses Two Firearms Charges Citing Bruen Decision

Next, Retired sheriff: Vote no on [Iowa] gun amendment measure

“Strict scrutiny” requires a court to apply the highest level of scrutiny possible to decide whether a law is unconstitutional. This approach has been used to override the original intent of laws, has led to ivfrolous lawsuits, undermined case law, and jeopardized common sense gun laws.

Some current gun safety laws keep felons and people convicted of certain domestic violence crimes from having firearms. Other laws prohibit guns in schools and restrict possession of machine guns and other offensive weapons.

As a retired career law enforcement official of 36 years, I know the importance of these laws. I am a gun owner. I have had many hours of weapons training during my career. Our forefathers created the Second Amendment. I would favor adding the same wording to the Iowa Constitution instead of the proposed language of “strict scrutiny.”

Gun deaths are the leading cause of death of children in America, and the second leading cause here in Iowa. The gun death rate in Iowa is increasing faster than the national average. We owe it to ourselves, to our communities, and to our children to do better.

I’m a cop. I’m better than you, super more trained than you, and it’s for the children.

But some Iowa sheriffs endorse gun rights constitutional amendment

“Whenever one of my constituents loses a freedom it’s my fault. It’s our job to speak out,” said Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington.

Wethington is one of six Iowa sheriffs officially endorsing what he calls the freedom amendment. It says, in part, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” and is basically creating an Iowa gun rights amendment similar to the second amendment in the federal constitution.

We’re absolutely floored; is that, what’s the quaint and archaic term, personal responsibility?

Full Text: Article I of the Constitution of the State of Iowa is amended by adding the folloing new section: Right to keep and bear arms. Sec. 1A. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.

No scrutiny is better.

Next, Texas Goes Permitless on Guns, and Police Face an Armed Public

Blood in the streets and dead children.

Next, Federal Judge Upholds California ‘Ghost Gun’ Ban, Rules Gun-Making Not Protected by Second Amendment

That’s laughable. More, Analysis: Federal Judge Finds ‘One Weird Trick’ to Uphold Gun Law Despite Bruen

30 Round Self Defense Practice Drill, Ken Hackathorn

With just one IDPA sized target, a sheet of target patches, and the Drills that I will enumerate below, one can now have a decent guide in teaching oneself the finer points of armed self defense. A friend with a competition timer will also come in handy. All Drills involve firing live ammunition and should only be performed in a shooting range or a place where there is no danger of hitting anything other than your target or its backstop. Oh yeah, you’ll also need a gun. The instructions below assume that you are using a semi-auto pistol, for wheel-gunners replace magazine changes with speed loader reloads.

Remember to observe and practice the four rules of gun safety.

1. From 5 yards, allowing 1 ½ seconds, beginning at “low ready” one shot to head. Repeat 3 times.
2. From 5 yards, allowing 2 seconds, beginning with gun holstered, one shot to head. Repeat 3 times.
3. From 5 yards, allowing 2 seconds, beginning at “low ready,” strong hand only, two shots to body. Repeat 2 times.
4. From 7 yards, allowing 2 seconds, facing 90° to left of target, gun holstered, two shots to body. One time only.
5. From 7 yards, allowing 2 seconds, facing 90° to right of target, gun holstered, two shots to body. One time only.
6. From 7 yards, allowing 2 seconds, facing target, gun holstered, two shots to body. One time only.
7. From 7 yards, allowing 4 seconds, while backing to 10-12 yards, three shots to body. Repeat 2 times.
8. From 10 yards, allowing 3 seconds, beginning with gun on target and round in chamber, change magazine and fire one shot to body. Repeat 2 times.
9. From 10 yards, allowing 3 seconds, beginning with gun on target and slide locked back, change magazine and fire one shot to body. One time only.
10. From 15 yards, allowing 2 ½ seconds, draw and fire one shot to body. Repeat 5 times.

Head shots only count if you hit the A zone of the “head” of the target. Body shots count if you hit the A, B, or C zones of the “body” of the target.

It is best to do these exercises with the same sidearm you intend to carry and with the same holster you plan to use. For most of us, this will be a concealed carry sidearm and concealment holster. Also wearing a shirt or vest that properly conceals the weapon is also recommended as the idea is to practice what you will do should you ever need to use your CCW piece in self defense. Assume that all Drills that require starting with a holstered firearm mean a holstered and concealed firearm. Using your star trek mod 1911 and an offset, fast draw holster won’t really teach you much about drawing and presentation which is what these Drills are mostly about. Think real world.

Don’t expect to be able to do all of these within the time required in your first few attempts, few meaning less than fifty. While this is not a substitute for proper training, it sure is a good start for many of us.

This one comes via hand gun law dot us

Source:

Source:

Leaders in Benue, Nigeria, are seeking to give Christian farmers AK-47s for self-defense after suspected militant herdsmen killed at least 70 Christians in several days of attacks there.

Militant herdsmen is such an odd moniker. Who actually are they?

“We are standing on our request for the federal government to give us a license for our Volunteer Guards to bear AK-47s and other sophisticated weapons,” Morning Star News on Oct. 25 quoted Anthony Ijohor, a spokesman for Benue Gov. Samuel Ortom. “The security agencies have been overstretched and, that being the case, our people have to defend themselves.”

They are requesting permission from a distant capital to defend themselves. For all of her troubles, America still has some things right.

Gabriel Suswam, an area senator and former Benue governor, also called on Christians to defend themselves.

“Since the federal government has gone to sleep and does not care about the security of the people,” Leadership Nigeria quoted Suswam Oct. 22, “it is time for them to rise up and defend themselves. We cannot continue to allow herdsmen terrorists to keep on killing these peasant farmers and destroying their property.”

“herdsmen terrorists?”

Ijohor and Suswam made the comments following days of attacks during the week of Oct. 16 by terrorists suspected to be militant Fulani herdsmen. More than 70 residents in majority Christian areas of Benue state were killed, more than 100 were injured and thousands were displaced, Morning Star reported.

In 2018, 6,000 Nigerian Christians, mostly women and children, were killed between January and June.

“In just two days, over 70 Christians were killed by Fulani militiamen in Gbeji community in our local government area,” Morning Star quoted Terumbur Kartyo, chairman of the Ukum Local Government Council in Benue. Udei and Yelewata villages were also attacked, Terumbur told Morning Star.

[…]

Elsewhere in Nigeria, a mother and child were killed and others were injured during worship Oct. 16 at Celestial Church in Kogi state, International Christian Concern reported.

Two militants arrived on motorcycles, shot the woman and her daughter, and injured an unknown number of others, ICC said, attributing the report to Jerry Omodara and identifying him as Kogi’s top security official.

“It looked like it was organized against that particular church, because their altar was burned with petrol they went with,” ICC quoted Omodara.

Who would do that, random motorcycle terrorists?

In Nigeria, more Christians are killed for their faith than in any other nation, Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors said in its 2022 World Watch List report. An estimated 4,650 Christians were killed in the 2020-2021 reporting year, Open Doors said, compared to 3,530 the previous year.

Open Doors ranked Nigeria as the seventh most difficult nation for Christians to live.

The Voice of the Martyrs, in its 2022 Global Prayer Guide, designates Nigeria as a hostile nation.

Why won’t the article call them Muslims? Are they Islamo-fascists? Muslim Jehadists? The author and editor seem at pains to avoid calling this what it is. If you won’t directly confront the reality of what’s happening and who and what your enemy is, you will never defeat it.

Are those precious Christian souls being killed for their faith by enemies of Christ or not? Seems like these Christians need to start forming militias. And ChurchLeaders.com needs to hire some editors that are, ahem, Church Leaders.

While Christians are not called to take the world by force of arms, at the same time, we have a duty to God to protect life (Exodus 20:13), especially those weaker (Psalm 82:3, Exodus 22:22)  and particularly of our own family (Exodus 20:12, 1 Timothy 5:8). For history and context, see this short post by Herschel on gun control in Nigeria and the rise of Boko Haram Muslim mass murderers.

Pastor John Weaver Oct 9, 2022

While Americans are busy searching headlines to find what chapter of Revelation they think we’re in, the truth is even more disturbing. It’s not Satan’s fault, it’s ours, and we’re the only ones that can do something about it. They are looking in the wrong book, both for the problem and the solution.

Hopefully, this sermon upsets you as much as it does me. Pastor Weaver only scratches the surface of all we could say. There’s nothing we can do to fix you or America. Each man must make himself upright before a Holy God.

Where is the power of the Christian? It’s in Christ, or there is none. There’s the root of the problem. American Christians have taken the grace of God as license to breeze through a sin-cluttered life, and that’s wrecking civilization. Therefore they have no power to fix it. If being Christian is only a part of who you are, perhaps you’re only partly converted, which is to say, not at all. Watch the whole video, but first, carefully read the topic section of Scripture, Deuteronomy 28, particularly from verse 15 onward.

Deuteronomy 28:15-68:

“15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

20 The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

25 The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

27 The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:

29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.

31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.

32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.

33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:

34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

35 The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

36 The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.

38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.

39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.

40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.

41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.

42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.

43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.

44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.

47 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;

48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:

51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.

52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:

54 So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:

55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.

56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;

59 Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.

61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.

63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.

64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:

66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:

67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

68 And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

The story from a couple of years ago on TCJ:

Tennessee landowner removed a game camera secretly strapped to a tree on his private land by wildlife officials in order to monitor his activity without apparent sanction or probable cause. Repeat: Hollingsworth’s residence was searched by U.S. government and state officials, dressed to the nines in assault gear, seeking to regain possession of a trail camera—the precise camera they had surreptitiously placed on his private acreage after sneaking onto his property at night, loading the camera with active SD and SIM cards, and zip-tying the device roughly 10’ high up a tree—all without a warrant.

Here’s the update:

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) said Mr. Hollingsworth was illegally baiting. He plead his case and got his hunting license suspended or revoked. Then he filed suit in federal court, alleging his privacy rights were violated and that TWRA had no warrant. A federal court threw out the case. Hollingsworth said the government will bleed the average person of resources and time; there’s no real way to fight this.

You have no right to privacy on your own property, and no warrant is needed to surveil you. TWRA and US Fish and Wildlife are doing this to others as well, that’s according to the news source. It’s not some conspiracy theory.

Source:

The U.S. Navy of the 1980s provides a reminder what serious peer competition in the naval sphere looks like and the resources and human willpower that it requires. E. B. Potter describes the 1980s buildup to counter the Soviet Union as the “most expensive peacetime military buildup in the nation’s history, to cost $1.5 trillion in five years . . . the Navy would be built up from 456 to 600 ships, including 15 carrier-centered battle groups.”¹

The 1980s maritime strategy and naval buildup was advocated by senior officers in uniform, approved by civilian leadership, and then laboriously implemented across all levels. Growing pains were worked out, and complex exercises in frigid environments executed. The renaissance of naval strategic thought in the late 1970s and subsequent buildup of the 1980s should provide a source of strength and inspiration to today’s sailors and civilian defense officials. Lessons in strategy, fleet exercises, and force structure remain directly relevant.

[…]

A clearly defined naval strategy with concrete operations and tactics guided the 1980s naval expansion. John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987, notes that President Ronald Reagan “approved the Navy recommendation to begin at once pursuing a forward strategy of aggressive exercising around the vulnerable coasts of Russia,” and “this demonstrated to the Soviets that we could defeat the combined Warsaw Pact Navies and use the seas to strike and destroy their vital strategic assets with carrier-based air power.”⁴ Active-duty naval officers such as Admiral James Holloway, Admiral Thomas Hayward, and Admiral James Lyons had long been advocating for such a strategy. These officers, as well as many others, rejected the consensus view of the previous Carter administration on the role of the Navy in a war with the Soviet Union:

We’ll get back to that. We have questions about the differences between then and now. The real threat to America is from the south. The border is wide open. Russia and China’s vested interests are in letting the US continue its long, slow, ugly decline into the wastebin of history, although America seems bent upon hastening that demise. Who is going to man, oops, person this Navy; Nigerians, Nicaraguans?

The primary lesson is that when it’s not your money, who cares what it costs? That 1980s Navy never got paid for.

Carter subscribed to the NATO strategy that called for employing most of America’s military resources to support the Allied front in Germany. The Navy’s primary role would be defense of the Atlantic SLOC [sea lines of communication], a task that would not require many large deck carriers. Carter’s SLOC strategy prompted Admiral Holloway and a number of naval analysts to warn that if the Navy implemented this policy, it would be unable to perform other vital wartime tasks . . . the strategy essentially ceded the Pacific theater to the Soviets.⁵

It takes years or a decade to develop warfare systems technologies. We’re no fan of Carter, but one thing he never gets any credit for is signing the bills that enabled a massive technology uplift to all branches of the Department of Defense. The foundation for many technologies that would be used in Desert Storm was started in the 70s and early 80s.

I joined the Navy in the 1980s. The training was excellent. There was a no-nonsense business approach to all phases of operations. The enlisted men were trusted and respected (if they worked). There was no radical transformation at the time using the military as a testbed for the integration of the perverse.

Lehman (SecDef in the 80s) describes how the Navy visibly drilled around clearly defined operations and tactics that flowed from the 1980s global maritime strategy:

Nine months after the President’s inauguration, three U.S. and two Royal Navy carriers    executed offensive exercises in the Norwegian Sea and Baltic. In this and subsequent massive exercises there and in the northwest Pacific carried out every year, carrier aircraft proved that they could operate effectively in ice and fog, penetrate the best   defenses, and strike all of the bases and nodes of the Soviet strategic nuclear fleet.¹⁰

[…]

In a 1986 defense of the maritime strategy in Proceedings, Lehman described the scale of the naval exercises of the 1980s and how strategy guided this training:

Title 10 of the U. S. Code charges the Secretary of the Navy with ensuring the highest level of training appropriate to the responsibilities placed upon both the Marine Corps and the Navy. That is what strategy provides to us—a framework within which to train. For example, U. S. naval forces recently conducted a major training exercise, “Ocean Safari 85,” with our NATO allies and the U.S. Coast Guard and Air Force. The “Safari” assembled off the East Coast of the United States and fought its way across the Atlantic, moved north of England and east of Iceland, and ended up in the Norwegian Sea. Approximately 155 ships and 280 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters operated for four weeks in this environment, against 19 real Soviet ships and submarines and 96 Soviet aircraft sorties.¹¹

Taking “great-power competition” as more than just a buzzword requires robust naval exercises so that the Navy can practice like it would fight when confronting a peer adversary. Exercises of such magnitude require depth in the force structure.

Penetrating deep into areas where Soviets had significant assets required electronic deception and emissions control. Admiral Lyons explained how central these concepts were to his fleet exercises in the Norwegian Sea and High North:

The first thing I did after taking command was to tear up the old canned Ocean Venture OPORD [operation order] . . . They were still using World War II carrier formations . . . such a formation was easily tracked by Soviet satellites. What we did was plot out Soviet satellite area footprints and time of exposure. We then went to dispersed dispositions. We used a number of cover and deception decoys and tactics.¹²

Lehman describes one exercise where Lyons endeavored to make “his entire strike group disappear” through emissions control and foul weather, then reappearing in the Norwegian Sea to the Soviets’ surprise.¹³ Utilizing military deception and emissions control effectively is a skill that requires practice and risk management but is necessary when operating within a peer adversary’s weapon’s release range.¹⁴

[…]

The 600-Ship Navy occurred without hollowing the force or falling behind in technological advancements. The 1980s buildup centered on proven platforms while at the same time making critical investments in precision-guided munitions, electronic warfare, and standoff jamming.¹⁸ Admiral Hayward (1980s Admiral who would climb to Chief of Naval Operations, the top naval man over all ships and units able to put to sea) made very clear that naval expansion must be made without a decline in readiness:

. . . units which are incapable of meeting the threat are, in a sense, worse than none, because they give some a false sense of our total capabilities vis-à-vis the Soviets. This means that quality cannot generally be traded off for quantity. At the same time, quantity does matter and there is clearly an absolute minimum in numbers of combatant units below which we cannot safely go.¹⁹

It’s almost laughable to think that the US could do this now. Maybe the Navy should focus on hiring MBAs in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion from Wharton Business School. This seems like the equitable thing to do.

Some defense planners today advocate wagering the future on unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and cyber at the expense of traditional platforms to counter China.²¹ While these disruptive technologies undeniably require investment, using them to justify broad cuts in traditional platforms at a time when the Navy needs to grow would take on a dangerous level of risk. Indeed, the Ford, Zumwalt, and littoral combat ship highlight the pitfalls of betting that new technology can revolutionize naval warfare and offset a reduction in hulls. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) recently called for a more prudent approach to force structure, imploring “the return to an Aegis-type development model in which critical subsystems are matured before the Navy procures the lead ship of a new class.”²² Admiral Holloway wrote an entire Naval Warfare Publication to assist force-structure planning and emphasized the centrality of risk assessment:

Naval force structure is derived from consideration of strategy, threat, and risk. If proper strategy is projected, the threat correctly assessed, and risks accurately identified, uncertainty can be minimized and naval requirements can be established.²³

All of our lives, we’ve been told that Reagan’s military buildup is what collapsed the Soviet Union. But, we ended up expending those munitions and fleet capabilities to destroy Iraq, a fourth-rate power.