First of all our newest and largest aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford is still fully operational. But it did catch fire, in the laundry area and two sailors were injured. As a grunt I figure the crew can get by without clean sheets or skivvies for a while. Still, it speaks to the question of how well prepared, or perhaps overworked our forces are. More serious is two Stratotankers, mid-air refueling aircraft collided over Iraq. One was able to make it back to base but the other was lost. No word yet on the crew. If this is a well-oiled Hegesth war machine I’d hate to see his version of one lacking in preparedness.
However, while the Ford can still launch and recover aircraft striking targets in Iran if, as reported by Metro the freaking laundry room catches fire causing injuries you have to wonder what else might not be up to sustained operations in a war zone. And make no mistake, the Red Sea is a war zone. In fact, if you recall last year in avoiding Houthi missiles strikes hard maneuvers caused two separate incidents of fighter jets sliding off into the sea. Glub Glub. At least no lives were lost.
Also, while it quickly got overshadowed by other news we lost three, count em THREE F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets to friendly fire! Those cost a hundred million. Each. Some of the ships deployed for Trumpty’s war had their deployments extended. Is it just me, or despite months of buildup did self-styled Alpha Warrior Petey “Gel Hair’ Hegseth issue directives that had the effect of skipping over issues like proper workups for combat deployment? Or taking a ‘they just have to suck it up’ attitude about those spending extended time at sea? Oh, and routine maintenance of ‘boring stuff’ that might say prevent a fire from breaking out in a laundry area large enough to handle the needs of 500 sailors? I guarantee you the laundry rooms in hotels that can handle that many guests are a helluva lot larger!
Petey Boy was an infantry officer who didn’t actually lead a platoon. No, despite his ‘I’m a warrior’ strutting cosplay while he served in combat zones he never served in actual combat. So, to someone like him when career professionals, both Officer and Senior NCOs raise pesky details about logistics, training, maintenance etc. he blows it off. Yes, as the linked article stated the Ford is operational. For now:
U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement: ‘On March 12, the USS Gerald R. Ford experienced a fire that originated in the ship’s main laundry spaces. The cause of the fire was not combat-related and is contained.
‘There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational.’
The statement added that two sailors are receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.
In other words according to the DOD (Dickheads on Duty these days) no biggie. Just a fire in an area with lots of flammable stuff that could have turned into a conflagration but was thankfully contained. The main thing is the ship can still fight. Still, while this ole jarhead didn’t get assigned to sea duty I know a lot about “bird farms” (long story why) and between this and the loss of those two jets in separate instances last year I worry there’s something going on beneath the surface.
For all their talk about our military having been a “disaster’ under Biden (and before that Obama) and Trump “restoring” it we are seeing a lot of f**kups in a fairly short time. It’s almost like maybe firing a lot of top leaders (again, forcing out top career officers but also senior NCO’s) for not being as openly worshipful of Trump has had an effect. Loyalty to Trump instead of the troops and readiness leads to little things going wrong. That in turn leads to bigger things, like not properly alerting crews during incoming missile attacks and leaving expensive fighter jets NOT tied down close enough to slide off the deck. Or shooting down three of our most advance fighters. Think about that. WE have shot down more of our aircraft in this war than Iran has! Then there’s the two tankers near the Iraq/Iran border doing refueling colliding with one crashing.
We’ve had seven killed that we know of. It’s likely the crew of that crashed tanker will put us into double digits. Also, the number of wounded is turning out to be startling. Last I checked it was over 150. Keep in mind that the first ones killed were in a space where the equipment they were operating had blast shielding but their trailers didn’t. AND that the incoming missile warning system failed so they had no chance to take cover.
I’ll say it one last time. This is NOT evidence of a highly trained and prepared military. We HAD such a force, then Trumpty installed Petey and training became more ‘showtime.’ The results are there if you care to look at them in the proper context. It’s not a pretty picture.
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In any organisation, rot starts at the top and works its way downward, often very quickly, and the first casualty is usually morale. Trump’s chosen FUX News talking head began purging competent military people immediately after he got his fancy new job, replacing them with the various grades of Yessir Men always, sadly, to be found within any service. The results are beginning to come in.
Well said, Denis as always. A thought that I have is the military is somewhat a high turnover place. There’s always new recruits to replace the ones that only do one enlistment. Thus the need for constant training and preparation. I would not be surprised if that was short-cutted or deleted by the current regime. It’s those young people who are paying the price.
The flight crew of the crashed KC135 are confirmed as deceased.