Compass Points - Veterans Day
Vets put service first.
Compass Points - Veterans Day
Vets put service first.
November 11, 2024
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Happy Veterans Day!
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Traditionally, Veterans Day is commemorated on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11 month. That was the date and time the official armistice with Germany went into effect marking the end of World War I. In the US, Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day and was focused on World War I. But over the years, it expanded to encompass other remembrance days of other wars. In 1954, Armistice Day was officially renamed Veterans Day, a day to honor the service of military vets.
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All those in the US military, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines as well as the Coast Guard and the new Space Force are not in business for themselves. They are not in an occupation, a line of work, a job, or a profit-making enterprise. Those in the military are in the military service. They are in service to the Nation.
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The United States is a commercial enterprise. The US trades with the world for the benefit of all. In some ways, the US has always been a commercial culture. The difference today is the reach of the internet and the speed of delivery have snared so many people into focusing not on important things but only on the next box arriving at their door. It is a debilitating purchasing pandemic.
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Amazon has a wonderful ability to deliver boxes and boxes of stuff, but Amazon has no ability to deliver a well lived life.
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Through their military service, veterans both protect the commercial culture and transcend it. Through their years of service, veterans live an example of service. Veterans come to see that life is not only about self-interest, not only about what we want delivered next, but is about service and sacrifice, about sometimes even risking all to help others.
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Veterans are not saints, they have bills to pay, and many have families to feed. And like savvy shoppers everywhere, vets know the allure of a BOGO sale. The difference is for vets, life is not entirely about dollars and cents, but also about sacrifice and service.
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No doubt it was John F. Kennedy's own military service in World War II that caused him to encourage everyone to:
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Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
― John F. Kennedy
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This year, on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, Compass Points salutes all our vets. Thank you for your service. We celebrate vets because while too many others spend all their years serving only themselves, vets have spent at least some years serving others.
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Happy Veterans Day!
Hand salute to all Veterans and a special request to befriend and help Our younger Veteran Brothers and Sisters. We recently lost a 38 year old Marine Combat Veteran to suicide. He had 6 combat tours in 16 years. Sadly, even though I had frequent contact w him and always encouraged him to reach out for help he kept his demons hidden and ended his life. Semper Fidelis.
What a great article!
I caught this Nation Defense University article on “Real Clear Politics (RCP) – Defense” about “Joint Forcible Entry Operations” (JFEO). https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/joint-force-quarterly/vol115/iss3/14/ I noticed that RCP has published a number of CP Articles and comments on their “Defense” page. My congratulations to CP for what I feel is an outstanding accomplishment. I have always liked RCP because it collects and presents both pro and con articles on the political issues of the day. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/
The article’s author first gives the “Joint” definition of JFEOs: “A joint forcible entry operation is defined as an action that seizes and holds lodgments against armed opposition in a manner that affords continuous landing of troops and material while providing maneuver space for follow-on operations. (NOTE: Doesn’t that sound like USMC amphibious doctrine?) JFEOs can be executed using an amphibious assault, airborne assault, air assault, or any combination of these methods.” JFEO doctrine requires three tailored forces and the sequencing of assault, follow-up and rear echelons. (see NOTE above).
The author then presents an analysis of the Russian JFEO assault on the Hostomel International Airport during the opening phase of the current Ukraine and Russian War…“even with the threat posed by A2/AD networks”. The Russian assault on the airport, in order to isolate Kyiv, was a failure but not due to Ukrainian A2/AD. (Hmmmm, that statement makes me think) The Russian JFEO failure was due to the assault echelon’s lack of the requisite capabilities (tailored combat forces).
The author then goes on to state a warning. “To avoid a similar outcome, the U.S. military should not divest capabilities that limit its options by favoring one method of attack over the other (ahhh…are we talking about divesting things like tanks, bridging equipment, artillery, aircraft, etc?). Rather, the joint force should make the necessary adaptations to reduce the vulnerabilities associated with JFEOs so that it can maintain its flexibility in future conflicts.” The author is making the recommendation that JFEOs forces instead of divesting combat power, they should be increasing not only traditional combat power but also mobility. “By advocating for the divestment of joint forcible entry capabilities, critics are playing into the operational concepts of our adversaries, which are predicated on using low-cost means to attrite the joint force’s most valuable assets.” Wow! Well said sir.
The article goes on to make other recommendation about mobility of the assault force, and training for “dispersed locations in a multidomain contested environment.” The Marine Corps use to be in the lead on the mobility issue when we established the Marine Corps LAV battalions. On dispersed locations, I was pleased to see the US Air Force and Marine Corps recently open the old airfields on Tinian and Palau, however, there is a lot of supporting airfields and lagoons used in WW2 that the US Joint Force should look at for the purpose of planning the exploitation of dispersion.
For this article, the number one take away for me is the threat of the A2/AD environment is challenging, however, the idea that we can’t conduct an amphibious operation against an A2/AD peer-to-peer adversary is pure dogma. There is a difference between doctrine and dogma. Doctrine is a teaching, dogma is an opinion.
When it comes to JFOE, the US Marine Corps should be leading the charge and for that reason we are going to need a lot of help from the Joint Force. Folks FD2030 gets the US Marne Corps into the right stadium but puts us on the wrong side of the playing field. S/F
Thank you Jonathan Maxwell Cohen, Major, USA for this article. Well done Sir.