Adm. WIlliam McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, made waves with recent comments that the number of the most elite members of the U.S. fighting force should be drawn back so that these individuals are reserved for a more specialized role. By focusing on missions of smaller scales and not functioning as accessories to larger fighting forces, McRaven believed that Special Forces could ultimately operate as a more effective unit.
After a recent order concerning the Special Forces, McRaven's strategic comments seem to not have fallen on deaf ears. According to The Washington Post, 150 soldiers from the Air Force Special Operations units and a contingent of supporting airmen will be deployed to central Africa to aid in the search for Joseph Kony, the warlord at the head of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army. The Special Operations forces will bring several CV-22 Osprey multi-purpose aircraft to aid in their operations that are expected to take place throughout the dense jungles of several countries in the heart of the African continent.
Renewed efforts
By order of President Barack Obama under the War Powers Act, the contingent of Special Operations forces and at least four of the Air Force's versatile CV-22 Osprey aircrafts have been deployed to U.S. military bases in Uganda, The Washington Post reported. Though Kony's whereabouts remain unknown, the new troop strength is expected to search an area that comprises regions of Uganda, the largely lawless Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
With the arrival of this contingent of soldiers, the approximate number of U.S. forces stationed in Uganda is expected to reach 300.
While soldiers dispatched in 2011 have disrupted LRA operations, they have not yet located Kony himself.
The Air Force outlined several key operational features of the CV-22 Osprey aircrafts the troops will be bringing with them, most notably its movable rotor design that allows both vertical landings and takeoffs, as well as high speeds at fixed-wing flight. This functionality will allow Special Operations soldiers to move more effectively through the dense jungles of central Africa where it is believed that Kony has evaded U.S. and Ugandan forces for years.
Standing orders
While U.S. troop numbers in central Africa will rise sharply as a result of this deployment, The New York Times reported that American soldiers do not have authorization to engage members of the LRA on sight. The objective of their mission is to aid Ugandan and other soldiers from central African nations in their search for the warlord, but they do have orders to fight back in self defense.
The international community was outspoken in its denouncement of Russia's annexation of the souther portion of Ukraine known as Crimea. A subsequent vote by the Crimean people to join the Russian Federation followed, and Russian President Vladimir Putin gained the valuable Black Sea port city Sevastopol.
However, according to some officials, the Russian military may not be content to halt its actions with Crimea alone. According to U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russian forces have amassed on the Ukrainian border and could quickly mobilize to seize more territory from Ukraine or perhaps the neighboring nation of Moldova, Military.com reported.
Surveilling Moscow
Breedlove made the comments during a speech at the German Marshall Fund think tank event. While Ukraine is not a member of NATO, several adjacent states, such as Poland and Romania, have signed the bi-lateral defense treaty.
"The [Russian] force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizable and very, very ready," Breedlove said at the conference, as quoted by Military.com.
While he did not state that Russia would march into Ukrainian territory again, Breedlove also mentioned that Russia may have set its sights on a traditionally Russian-speaking portion of Moldova known as Transdniestria.
"There is absolutely sufficient force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Transdniestria if the decision was made to do that, and that is very worrisome," Breedlove said.
Russian officials have denied any accusations of a military buildup for territorial gains, insisting that any troop movements can be explained by simple exercises.
Foreign intervention
While some critics call for the U.S. military to intervene in Russia's continued military movements, President Barack Obama told NBC 7 San Diego that he would not authorize any such plan. Military action in the Ukraine is not on his agenda, Obama told the TV station, though he admitted that he would be utilizing all the economic and diplomatic tools at his disposal to deter Moscow from any further aggressive actions.
The U.S. has provided the Ukrainian military with 25,000 Meals, Ready to Eat, Military.com reported, but no other assistance to date. Some representatives from Congress have pushed to send small arms and communications equipment to U.S. allies in the region, but doing so could be seen as an act of equal aggression by Russian officials.
With Russia's official annexation of the strategically significant Crimea region of Ukraine, Western powers led by the U.S. are now turning their military attention toward combating what they see as illegal incursions into the sovereign territory of Eastern European nations.
The most vocal instance of that attention came from Vice President Joe Biden during a Mar. 18 meeting with Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski, according to The Washington Post. Despite Russia's military might and unofficial occupation of the seaside region of Ukraine, Biden said that all North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations have nothing to fear with the U.S. military at their backs.
Carrying a big stick
"You have an ally whose [defense] budget is larger than the next 10 nations in the world combined, so don't worry about where we are," Biden told Bronislaw at a meeting on Tuesday, as quoted by The Washington Post. The Polish president had raised concerns that all of Europe seemed to be slashing military funding, while Russia had been operating under an opposite strategy.
Crimea's recent vote to join the Russian Federation raised fears among former Eastern bloc nations that Moscow was not necessarily finished with incursions into other territories. Crimea marks the second sovereign nation with which Russia has engaged in hostilities. In 2008, Russia and Georgia fought a shortened several-day war over contended territories in the South Ossetia region.
The NATO agreement states that any member nation that comes under attack from a non-NATO party is due the protection of all other member states. While closely allied with many NATO countries, Ukraine is not part of the agreement.
Analyzing European defense
According to Reuters, Russia's actions may be prompting some U.S. military policy officials to rethink their overall strategy on the European stage.
The general trend in recent years has been to reposition troop strength and equipment capabilities to the Pacific region in response to a more militarily and politically potent China, but President Vladimir Putin's actions may necessitate a new strategy.
"This requires a complete reappraisal of how we approach Russia," Fiona Hill, U.S. national intelligence officer for Russia from 2006 to 2009 and current head of the Europe program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, told Reuters. "Putin has made it very clear he intends to reassert Russia's sphere of influence … We don't have a strategy to deal with that."
Ten days after Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared from radar contact over the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy is calling back one of its ships originally tasked with carrying out search and rescue operations in one of the possible areas the plane may have crashed, Stars and Stripes reported.
The USS Kidd, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer housing two MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopters, has been recalled to its original base of operations in the South China Sea by Navy officials. The Kidd's departure follows that of the USS Pinckney, which assisted search efforts as well before heading to Singapore for scheduled maintenance and repairs.
The Kidd and Pinckney will be replaced by a P-8A Poseidon and P-3C Orion long-range patrol aircraft as U.S. soldiers continue to search for signs of the disappeared flight and its 227 passengers.
With recent data from radar and communications systems, the plane may have traveled in any direction as far west as Kazakhstan or as far south as the well into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia, according to The Wall Street Journal. Search efforts now encompass distances 3,200 miles from the point of last contact with the plane over the South China Sea.
The Armed Forces become a stronger fighting collective when the differences of disparate soldiers coalesce into a coordinated group. For decades, nearly all branches of the military operated on this principle – but only applied it to male soldiers.
However, both the Marine Corps and the Navy are opening more combat classifications to women applicants. While the Marines will establish an experimental force that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of female soldiers as part of a larger fighting force, the Navy has opened elite combat positions to any women interested in applying.
Fighting corpsmen and women
The Marine Corps will establish an experimental battalion based in North Carolina's Camp Lejeune that will feature 115 women as part of a 460-troop force, Stars and Stripes reported.
The experimental force will replicate training that normally takes place before a group of Marines is deployed into combat situations. Officials hope that by training male and female soldiers alongside each other, they can gain a better picture of how women would be suited to combat roles in the future.
Even though certain classifications are still closed to women in the Marines, interested female soldiers can volunteer for those positions as part of this experimental force provided they complete preliminary training courses in those classifications.
The coed force is part of the Marine Corps' process for determining how to offer more opportunities for women to service in their branch of the Armed Forces. Due to the former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's decision to lift the policy that barred women from serving in combat roles, all branches of the military must either allow female soldiers in all roles, or provide significant evidence that they should remain specific to men only.
Sailing right along
While the Marine Corps may still be deliberating its decision to open more combat roles to women, the Navy has already done the research. According to the Navy Times, women are now open to apply to more than 267 positions within the Coastal Riverine Force, a direct combat division that specializes in fighting in and around river lands. This leaves the Navy SEALs as the only remaining section of the Navy to not allow women into its ranks.
"We consistently strive to ensure all sailors and Marines, regardless of gender, have a path toward a successful military career," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement. "This not only makes us better war-fighters, but it ensures our Navy and Marine Corps remains the finest expeditionary fighting force in the world."
The Armed Forces are made up of individual soldiers, but their ability to work together as a unit contributes to the military's overall effectiveness. Part of that ability includes looking like a cohesive group as well.
To maintain that image of a disciplined and coordinated group of servicemembers, the Army will be publishing a new set of uniform guidelines that will govern how soldiers are expected to groom and present themselves while on active duty, Military.com reported. The updated regulations are expected to be return the Army's uniform policies back to stricter pre-2006 levels.
Policing military fashion
Military.com explained that the upcoming Army Regulation 670-1 will compile new grooming policies for soldiers that have previously been released in individual messages. The new stance is expected to take a much stricter approach on certain embellishments popular with troops in recent years, such as tattoos.
Army Secretary John McHugh told the website that troops can expect the new regulations to take effect within the next few weeks.
Though tattoos are no longer expected to be allowed below the elbow or knee, soldiers with preexisting ink will not be penalized, according to the Army Times. With only a few weeks remaining to take advantage of the grandfathering process, troops may be scrambling to get or finish designs for their life after service before the new policies kick in.
Providing comprehensive information
The Army is compiling all relevant information for soldiers into an easily digestible pamphlet format, as opposed to the more than 50 individual communications sent out over the last several years.
"We are dedicated to ensuring soldiers and leaders have easy access to policies to ensure our Army maintains a professional, neat, and Soldierly appearance, which is the foundation of our profession," the Army said in a statement to the Army Times.
Military officials also indicated that the new policies are aimed at preserving "a conservative military image" that has proved pivotal for for troops effectiveness, self-discipline and sense of identity as a servicemember of the U.S. Military.
The Army Times speculated that the policy change may be related to recent sequestration cuts that will reduce troop strength to around 420,000. The regulations were loosened in 2006 to help recruiting efforts, but with the expected drop in numbers, the Army Times explained that officials may feel more confident in enforcing stricter uniform and grooming regulations without regard to larger questions of military effectiveness.
Early in the morning Mar. 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur, the country's capital, bound for Beijing. Four days after the flight disappeared from radar contact and no sign of it has been found on land or sea. Now, American naval forces are joining the international search effort with several pieces of high tech equipment that may provide some answers.
Navy on the way
Stars and Stripes reported that two U.S. Navy destroyers, the USS Kidd and USS Pinckney, are now engaged in search efforts for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight. While the Arleigh Burkle-class guided missile destroyers are normally mobilized for their impressive offensive capabilities, the Kidd and Pinckney also host MH-60R Sea helicopters with infrared scanners. This will allow the destroyers to conduct searches around the clock.
Both destroyers were conducting training exercises in the South China Sea when the flight went missing. They were quickly rerouted to aid in the international search effort that includes Vietnamese, Chinese and Malaysian forces.
Also joining the Kidd and Pinckney is a P-3C Orion long range patrol aircraft stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. The Orion may represent the greatest potential to find evidence of the missing airliner which was carrying 239 people, including three Americans. The Navy explained that Orion aircrafts specialize in long range and large scale surveillance. Initially designed to detect submarines hiding below the surface of the ocean, P-3C Orions now boasts precisely tuned scanning equipment that can identify small pieces of debris floating among the waves.
Racing against time
While the area of focus continues to be periodically widened by officials as no evidence is found, the U.S. destroyers will concentrate their efforts on a large strip of water where the South China Sea meets the Gulf of Thailand. CBS News reported that Malaysia Airlines officials are baffled by the sudden disappearance of the plane from their radar systems only two hours after takeoff. Some believe that the plane may have attempted to turn around and land back in Kuala Lumpur, or that it veered to the east and crash landed somewhere in the South China Sea.
"All angles are being looked at. We are not ruling out any possibilities," Malaysia Airlines told CBS News.
A complicating factor in the search is the lack of central coordination. With no sign of the plane in any country's territorial waters, no single entity can claim jurisdiction over the efforts.
The military may be all about uniformity, but some soldiers desire a little individuality every now and then.
That was exactly the case for the Marines' preference for rolled sleeves on its uniforms – up until 2011, when a direct order mandated long sleeves even in desert climates. After years of complaints from servicemembers, however, Gen. James F. Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps, has relented and re-authorized the iconic rolled-up-sleeves look of certain Marines around the world.
On a roll
Amos wrote in a statement on the Marine Corps' website that he understands how important identity and individuality are to soldiers who become Marines. As rolled sleeves were one of the only ways that the Corps could differentiate the look of its uniforms from those of the other branches up until 2011, Amos believed that a return to this look would raise troops' morale across the globe.
"I've thought a lot about this over the past 2 .5 years; I realize that it's important to you," Amos wrote in the statement. "Sleeves up clearly and visually sets us apart."
The change signals a shift in strict uniform policies that have prohibited soldiers from keeping their hands in their pockets for an extended period of time. While the ability to roll their sleeves may be a welcome transition for many servicemembers, only those stationed outside of combat zones and wearing summer clothing will be permitted to cuff their sleeves when the new policy goes into effect March 9.
Shifting uniformity
While the sleeve roll may have been made famous by Marines in movies and TV shows, the style has a long history within the service. The Wall Street Journal reported that the informal look of the rolled sleeve was actually a highly ritualized part of the soldier's routine in preparing his or her uniform.
In addition to polished boots and pressed shirts, rolled sleeves had their own regulations – rolled from the inside out, three inches wide and resting two inches above the elbow. There were slight variations such as the less neat "Gunny Rolls," or sleeves cuffed by battle-hardened gunnery sergeants less concerned with appearance than combat effectiveness.
Recent changes to Marines' uniforms such as wrinkle-free fabric and suede combat boots removed much of the daily work Marines had to put into their appearance. However, Amos' announcement received more than 30,000 Facebook likes in one day, according to The Wall Street Journal, indicating that some soldiers might enjoy a return to the days of rolled sleeves and spit-shined shoes.
While the U.S. Pacific Fleet gears up for a redistribution of its forces for future decades of focus on China, the first of a series of destroyers has quietly sailed into Spanish waters to establish a new line of American missile defense for Western Europe. Stars and Stripes reported that after a trans-Atlantic journey from Norfolk, Va., the first of four missile destroyers has arrived at Naval Station Rota in Spain.
A new missile defense system
According to the Navy, the USS Donald Cook is an Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer equipped with Tomahawk and Harpoon missile launchers, two Vertical Launch Systems for hostile armament interception, Close-In-Weapons-Systems, and triple tube torpedo mounts.
That is just the first of four missile destroyers slated to comprise a new European missile defense system known as the European Phased Adaptive Approach. By 2016, all four ships will be based at Naval Station Rota on the Atlantic coast of Gibraltar. Combined with several land-based weapons systems in Romania, Poland and Turkey, commanding officials at Ramstein Air Base in Germany hope the missile defense shield will protect U.S. forces stationed in Europe and allies in the region from unseen threats from the Middle East.
When the naval force is fully deployed the Cook and its fellow destroyers will make four-month circuits throughout the Mediterranean Sea to monitor situations around the region.
A strategic initiative
The EPAA mission was announced by President Obama in 2009. Russian authorities claim the move will infringe upon their country's nuclear program, but U.S. officials disagree.
"To put it simply, our new missile defense architecture in Europe will provide stronger, smarter, and swifter defenses of American forces and America's Allies," Obama said in a press release. "It is more comprehensive than the previous program; it deploys capabilities that are proven and cost-effective; and it sustains and builds upon our commitment to protect the U.S. homeland against long-range ballistic missile threats; and it ensures and enhances the protection of all our NATO Allies."
A four phase plan that will reach completion sometime around 2020, the program has already resulted in tight military cooperation between the White House and European nations such as Poland, Romania and Turkey. Despite the claims of muted hostility from the Russian government, the 2010 Lisbon Summit of NATO allies commended the strategic initiative as a significant contribution to the region's military defense.
With continued scrutiny directed toward the federal budget, lawmakers have been eyeing a reduction to the nation's fleet of aircraft carriers for some time. The ships cost billions to construct and billions more to maintain year in and year out. Despite their cost, however, carriers have long been leaned on strategically as one of the main pillars of America's military prowess at sea. As a result, the U.S. Navy just narrowly avoided losing one of its aircraft carriers to the scrap yard.
The cost of a carrier
The Wall Street Journal reported that the USS George Washington, a Nimitz-class supercarrier, had been planned for decommissioning and deconstruction after a review of the Navy's finances last year, but intervention from the White House saved the ship from its fate. The review was lead by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who found that the Navy's operational capabilities would not be seriously impacted by decreasing the number of carriers from 11 to the proposed 10. The new number would still have equaled the combined carrier strength of seven other countries.
The George Washington was initially commissioned July 4, 1992 and is based out of Yokosuka, Japan, according to the Navy. Powered by two nuclear reactors, the George Washington and similar ships usually have a lifespan of 50 years, but require refueling and widespread maintenance at some point during their operational careers. The George Washington is scheduled for refueling in 2016 and the price tag of that work is steep at nearly $4.7 billion. Amid budget cuts to agencies across the board, Hagel recommended that the George Washington be scrapped.
Sail to the chief
Amid the controversy, The Wall Street Journal speculated that instead of allowing an aircraft carrier to be retired under a Democratic administration and before an election cycle, the White House allocated the necessary funds for the refurbishment of the George Washington to the military's budget. This decision was reportedly made by White House officials interested in avoiding a political fight with Congressmen who would have blocked any Executive effort to retire a carrier. Rather than see a proposal mired on Capitol Hill, the decision was made to keep the carrier in active service and avoid criticisms in the process.
Support for ships
The intervention has more benefits than political gain, however.
David Berteau is a defense analyst with the non-profit Center for Strategic and International Studies and he recommended that instead of retiring the relatively young George Washington, one of the older ships be considered. The oldest carrier in service today is the USS Nimitz, commissioned in 1975. As the Navy is currently working under a plan to build a new aircraft carrier every five years, Berteau said that a move towards a constantly modernizing fleet would not only help with military force, but any halt in construction for financial purposes would make it more difficult to build ships in the future.
"Once you break the production of carriers, you will not have a carrier industrial base," Berteau told The Wall Street Journal.
Rep. Randy Forbes (R., Va.) insisted that a reduction in aircraft carrier strength could spell disaster for the Navy's military capabilities.
"The aircraft carrier remains the centerpiece of American sea power and is fundamental to a national security policy based on forward deployed presence and power," he told the Wall Street Journal.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) agreed with the Republican representative, saying that any reduction in carrier strength would seen be by allies and enemies alike as an unwillingness for the U.S. to engage itself in military actions in the future.