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#3rd Marine Air Wing
the-nomadicone · 2 years
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Lightning II // United States Marine Corps
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usafphantom2 · 6 months
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Fire power 🔥
A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II, attached to 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, takes off from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona.
@THEF35JPO via X
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67romeo · 2 months
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Fix, Fly, Fight !
Two AH-1Zs with Marine Light Attack Squadron ( HMLA ) 469 ' Vengeance ' / Marine Aircraft Group ( MAG ) 39 / 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing ( MAW ) fly over Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton during a training exercise ( February 15, 2019 ) ( U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Samuel Ruiz ) :
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My Dad shared this with me this morning. It's beautiful.
Living Among the Silent Warriors
A Short Story By Thomas Waters
I am a boomer. That is, I belong to the Baby Boom generation. Like many other Boomers, my parents were members of the Greatest Generation who lived through the Depression and World War Two.
My father, like most men of his generation, fought in World War Two. In fact, in the small south Georgia town where I grew up, most of the men of his generation were veterans of that war. The quiet mail carrier who served as a deacon in the church, once served aboard a Destroyer in the Pacific where rumor was, he became extremely proficient in shooting down attacking Zeroes. According to local lore, it was his skill at shooting Zeros out of the sky that contributed to him being one of the best dove hunters in the state. That man could shoot Doves on the wing like he was shooting pigeons from a barn roost.
So it was where I grew up, the farmer who taught me to plow was in the infantry in Europe, the barber where I got my hair cut as a boy, two decades earlier had fought his way out of the killing zone known as Omaha Beach. On and on it went; men from all walks of life, the Banker, the teacher, the mechanic, the factory worker, and yes the minister, all veterans of the second World War. Men who had fought in battles all over the world, now pursued quite, unobtrusive, unnoticed lives in some small forgotten towns in South Georgia, or Kansas, or Michigan, or Kentucky, or New Mexico and every other state or territory of the Union.
In retrospect, what made these warriors so notable was not only did the world forget them, but they silently walked among those of us who knew them best, their families and friends unknown. I was unaware of my father’s heroic past and that served in both the North Atlantic and the Pacific. He never mentioned it. There were no plaques of commemoration around the house of his service. I did not know until I was grown about the run and shoot battle his ship engaged in with a German Uboat in the North Atlantic. Finally the sub was forced to surface and the entire crew and submarine were captured by the brave men of the USS Southwind. Perhaps he and his good friend, the mail carrier who served on the Destroyer in the Pacific, talked about such things, but until I was grown I’m not even sure I knew he fought during the war.
I did not know until his funeral that the quite man who taught the auto mechanics class at the local high school was a decorated marine who fought and killed the enemy in hand to hand combat at Alligator Creek on Guadalcanal. Of course, I do remember how we all stood back in something of shocked awe the day he disarmed those two knife brandishing would-be hoodlums who came crashing into the shop intent on cutting up Roger. Mr. D snatched a pull handle from an open tool box and moving like a cat had both guys on the floor before we knew what happened. When the Sheriff came, a veteran of the 101st, we boys did note that as he put his arm around Mr. D to walk him out of the shop, a faint smile creased his face. Ten minutes later, the same ole Mr. D was back and class started again just like nothing had happened. I understand, however, it was some time before them boys with the knives were released from the hospital. Nothing more ever happened after that. The District Attorney, a decorated skipper from the storied 15th Air Force, didn’t press any charges. The local paper didn’t carry the story either. The editor, an officer in Patton’s 3rd Army, 10th Armored Division said there was no story, nothing of public interest to print. The whole thing went away, like it never happened, but we boys never forgot. We looked at Mr. D in a whole different way. We had always respected him, but now we sorta of feared him too. I mean, all us boys knew we didn’t want any of Mr. D. He could hurt you. Nah, actually, he could kill your butt.
Well, such were the men I grew up with and around: many were unkown and forgotten killers. One never knew for sure with whom you were talking, but actually we never really thought about it. We lived and grew up among these silent warriors: among men who had fought all over the world; men who had flown fighters and bombers; men who had fought in tank battles, naval battles, dogfights, and in hand to hand combat; men who had been shot at and had shot other men; men who had walked through mud and snow; men who had been hungry, lonely, scared, and brave. Now they were home, raising their families and going about their normal, mundane lives. And we walked among them unknowing, unappreciative and most often totally unaware that we were walking among the silent warriors.
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jakey-beefed-it · 1 year
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For kind of a long time (a few years, at the minimum, probably about five) I’ve had this backburner idea to collect some imperial guard/astra militarum and convert and paint them up to be Ultramar Defense Auxilia.
I don’t want to clutter up anyone’s dash, so the rest of this very self-indulgent post goes under the cut.
There have been a few impediments to this project. First was my indecision about what, exactly, the UDA is. Is it more like guardspeople, or tempestus scions? Following the latter idea for a bit, I made some Necromunda enforcers a while back.
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And I like them, they’re neat, but they definitely feel too elite to be regular guardsmans, and they don’t especially feel very... Ultramar, aside from the paint job and the transfers. Plus it’s hard to get a bunch of rifles for them to make them work as either guardsmans OR scions. And finally they are, fundamentally, too obviously militarized cops. And, you know, ACAB. 
Before you start in, yes, any Imperial army is going to be bastards to one degree or another. Any guardsman is going to be, at best, a shell-shocked veteran who no longer buys the propaganda but keeps their mouth shut on pain of being shot. Hence me going for what I consider to be the minimally bastardly Imperial soldiers- the Defense auxilia of Ultramar. They’re not generally following the Ultramarines into combat in this or that war zone across the galaxy, they’re just taking up arms to defend their own goddamn planets from the ‘nids or the Death Guard or whatever else GW wants to rain down upon the 500 worlds. Which, yeah, are fundamentally Imperial in a very Roman sense. And the Romans were very much Bad People who have no place in any sort of ‘best practices’ government advice, but like. Arguably not as bad as a lot of the other influences on 40k, and a lot more time has passed making it a lot less sus (though god knows there are still lots of right-wing weirdos into Rome) to dig the aesthetic.
Ok. Other points of inspiration? The Plague Wars, some of the only 40k books I’ve actually bothered to read. Transfers: I have a fuckload of Ultramarine transfers I will never get through even though I already play Ultramarines. Music: Sabaton in general, but especially Attack of the Dead Men and Fields of Verdun. So... a Space Roman World War One aesthetic???
Ok. So, justifications and vague aesthetic in mind, I pondered how to go about this. For a while I poked around 3rd party bits sites, taking note of things that grabbed me. After a while, I had a vague idea what I wanted:
A greatcoat, because greatcoats are cool as hell and make a good place for all that Macragge Blue
A breastplate of some kind- single-piece is fine, though lorica segmentata would be ideal
Pauldrons of some kind; again, lorica segmentata style would be best
An enclosed helmet with or without gas mask; these guys would have to be capable of fighting/having fought in the Plague Wars, and if we have learned nothing else from the current pandemic, please let’s have at least learned you don’t want to be breathing in Nurgle-tainted air. Roman theming on the helmet would be ideal, but I can find literally no such thing in guard-scale. A few for marines, which would’ve been keen to know about before painting my hundreds of Ultramarines, but so it goes.
A las-rifle that looked a bit more ‘historical’, somewhere between late renaissance flintlocks and bolt-action. 
A proper trencher’s haversack. Bedrolls and entrenching tools preferred.
They came out with the death korps of krieg guys in plastic a year or so ago, and they ticked a bunch of these boxes- the greatcoats, the gas masks, the vaguely WW1 looking las-rifles. But the helmets were a bit too close to the stalhelm. Scions helmets instead? But no, they’ve got the pikelhaube spike which is very much a Death Guard thing in 40k, and otherwise look a bit too modern. And no cuirass at all, and their feet aren’t armored at all which simply will not do when greaves were one of the pieces of armor Romans actually did wear.
No greaves?
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Then, recently, I found these guys. They’re not as crisp of sculpts as the new death korps or the new cadian guys; more on par with the old Cadian kits, but they have greatcoats, cuirasses, and armored shins. The guns and heads are my least favorite part of the kit, but frankly, I’ve got so many goddamn bitz I can probably replace them with something. And you get 24 of them for less than the price of 10 GW guardsmen. And the idea began to take shape.
For helmets, I’m actually thinking sisters of battle helmets. God knows I still have piles and piles of them. They have a vaguely medieval feel to them, and if you threw a crest on the sergeants and a transverse crest on the officers, they’d read pretty credibly as roman-inspired at least. If I’m feeling sassy, I might even greenstuff up some cheek flap things to add to that impression.
For arms/guns, my ideal would be skitarii pauldrons on death korps arms with skitarii galvanic rifles and death korps bayonets. But that’s not happening because the whole point is to get a kill team’s worth of guys with optional swaps for less than GW price, and even buying just the bits would put this well over budget. So. I think the death korps guns are good enough, the arms are perfect, the bayonets are perfect, I just have to either accept that the pauldrons won’t be perfect or, again if I’m feeling saucy, I can maybe sculpt up a little curved top piece to give a more Roman silhouette. 
I think it’s a plan. I have a project in mind for the new year, one that won’t add heaps of models to my pile or put me back all that much money. 
Watch this space for further developments, if you’ve read this far and give a shit about wee space mans.
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photos-mdx · 1 year
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U.S. Marines with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, set up a forward arming refueling point during exercise Steel Knight 23 on Camp Wilson, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, Dec. 2, 2022
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captawesomesauce · 1 year
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Thoughts at 7pm...
I tag my books in Calibre with people and places and things I think will come up again and again across books. 
This can be a slow and agonizing process, but I find that I keep coming back to it over and over again, because I’ll read a book years later that mentions a battle on Hill 488 and think... fuck, what book was it that I read about that from someone else’s perspective?!!?!? 
Tags help with that. 
I don’t tag everything, or everyone... just stuff I have a feeling will come up over and over, and yet for a single book I’ll end up with this:
Averell Harriman, Bess Clements Abell, Camp David, Catoctin Mountains MD, CH-34 Choctaw, CH-46 Sea Knight, Chaplain, CIA, CIDG, From LAPL, General Herman Nickerson, General Samuel B. Griffith, General William Westmoreland, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, John F. Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr, Maryland, North Korea, Okinawa, Okinawa - Northern Training Area (NTA), Robert McNamara, Soviet FROG-3 Missile, SpecOps, US Capitol Building, USA 3rd Infantry Regiment, USAF Kadena Airbase, USAID John Paul Vann, USMC, USMC 12th Marines, USMC 1st Force Recon Co, USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Brisbane (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Circumstance (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Club Car (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Countersign (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Killer Kane (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Swift Scout (Vietnam War), USMC 1st MarDiv, USMC 1st Marine Air Wing, USMC 1st Marines, USMC 1st Marines - 1/1, USMC 1st Marines - 1/1 - F Co, USMC 1st Marines - 2/1, USMC 1st Marines - 2/1 - E Co, USMC 1st Recon Bn, USMC 1st Recon Bn - E Co, USMC 1st Tank Bn, USMC 26th Marines, USMC 26th Marines - 1/26, USMC 26th Marines - 1/26 - F Co, USMC 2LT Paul Young, USMC 3rd Marines, USMC 3rd Marines - 2/3, USMC 5th Marines, USMC 5th Marines - 2/5, USMC 5th Marines - 2/5 - F Co, USMC 7th Marines, USMC 7th Marines - 1/7, USMC 7th Marines - 2/7, USMC 7th Marines - 2/7 - G Co, USMC 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, USMC Air Observers - Black Coats (Vietnam War), USMC Camp Hansen, USMC Camp Pendleton, USMC Camp Schwab, USMC Col. Andrew Finlayson, USMC Force Recon, USMC LtCol Alex Lee, USMC Marine Barracks Washington (8th and I), USMC Scout Dogs, USMC SgtMaj Maurice J. Jacques, USMC The Basic School, USMC Washington Barracks Guard Co., USN Corpsman, USN LCDR Ray Stubbe (Chaplain), USN USS Pueblo (AGER 2), USNA, VNM 1968 Tet Offensive (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM A Shau Valley, VNM A Vuong River, VNM An Bang, VNM An Hoa, VNM An Long, VNM An Son, VNM Antenna Valley, VNM Ap Ba, VNM Arizona Territory, VNM Ba Na Mountain, VNM Base Area 112, VNM Battle of Hue City (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Battle of Khe Sanh (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Camp Hansen, VNM Camp Reasoner, VNM Charlie Med, VNM CIA Phung Hoang / Phoenix Program (1965-1972) (Vietnam War), VNM Col de Ba Lien, VNM Command and Control North/FOB-1 (Vietnam War), VNM Da Nang, VNM Da Son, VNM Dam Cao Hai Bay, VNM Dong Nhut Mountain, VNM DRV NVA 2nd Division, VNM DRV NVA 320th Reconnaissance Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 368th Artillery (Rocket) Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 3rd Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 402nd Sapper Battalion, VNM Elephant Valley, VNM Freedom Hill PX, VNM Happy Valley, VNM Hiep Duc, VNM Hill 170, VNM Hill 199, VNM Hill 203, VNM Hill 224, VNM Hill 324, VNM Hill 327, VNM Hill 35, VNM Hill 372, VNM Hill 381, VNM Hill 387, VNM Hill 406, VNM Hill 417, VNM Hill 441, VNM Hill 452, VNM Hill 454, VNM Hill 478, VNM Hill 498, VNM Hill 502, VNM Hill 537, VNM Hill 575 (Tam Dieo Mountain), VNM Hill 582 (Kon Chay Mountain), VNM Hill 592, VNM Hill 594, VNM Hill 623, VNM Hill 678, VNM Hill 749, VNM Hill 800, VNM Hill 89, VNM Ho Chi Minh Trail, VNM Hoi An Thuong, VNM Hon Cau Mountain, VNM Hue, VNM Khe Dienne River, VNM Khe Gio tributary, VNM Khuong Dai, VNM Loc Tu, VNM LZ Finch, VNM MEDCAP, VNM Mortar Valley, VNM Nam O Bridge, VNM Ninh Dinh, VNM Ninh Khanh, VNM Ninh Long, VNM Nong Son Coal Mine, VNM Nui Ba Hoa, VNM Nui Chom, VNM Nui Nhu, VNM Nui Son Ga (Charlie Ridge), VNM Ong Thu Slope, VNM Operation Arizona (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Calhoun (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Claxon (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Knox (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Pecos (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Snoopy (People Sniffer) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Union I (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Union II (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Wheeler (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Phouc Ly, VNM Phouc Tuong, VNM Phouc Tuong (Dogpatch), VNM Phu Bai, VNM Phu Gia Pass, VNM Phu Loc, VNM Quang Duc Duc, VNM Quang Nam Province, VNM Quang Tri Province, VNM Que Son Mountains, VNM Que Son Valley, VNM Route 1, VNM Route 545, VNM RVN RVNP CSDB PRU Provincial Reconnaissance Units (Vietnam War), VNM Saigon, VNM Song Cu De, VNM Song Ly Ly, VNM Song Thu Bon, VNM Song Tinh Yen, VNM Song Vu Gia, VNM Song Yang, VNM Tam Kho, VNM Tam Talou Tributary, VNM Thach Bich, VNM The Enchanted Forest, VNM The Garden of Eden, VNM Thua Thien Province, VNM Thuan Long, VNM Thuong Duc, VNM Ti Tau Mountain, VNM Trang Bang, VNM Trao Hamlet, VNM Tu Phu, VNM US MACVSOG (1964-1972) (Vietnam War), VNM US MACVSOG Road Runner Teams (Vietnam War), VNM USMC AHCB An Hoa Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM USMC Combined Action Platoon, VNM USMC KSCB Khe Sanh Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM Vietnam, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975), VNM Yellow Brick Road, Washington D.C
Thankfully I can easily use calibre’s tag search function to grab what I need!
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acorn-field · 2 years
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Maverick’s Jackets
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G-1 Military Flight Jacket in TG and TGM
Based on certain patches, Maverick's leather flight jacket originally belonged to his dad
OR since ANJ-3 (Army Navy Jacket 3) was standardized as the G-1 jacket in 1947 and has stayed the same, it could be that Maverick had patches from his dad and sew them when he received his G-1 on the first day of his Aviation Indoctrination program.
Patches that could belongs to Duke Michelle (Issued during/before the Vietnam war)
USS Galveston CLG-3: Far East Cruise 63′-64′ 
COMCRUDESPLOT-9 (Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Nine) 
CV-34 Oriskany Carrier Patch
US Naval Cruise Destroyer Pacific Vigilance
USN SEABEES Patch
US 7th Fleet Patch
3rd Marine Wing Patch
CVW-19
DLG-32 Cruise Patch
Patches belongs to Pete Maverick Michelle
Pete Mitchell Shield
VF-1 Squadron Patch
CV-61 Centurion Patch (based on matching patch on his flight suit)
CVW-2 ( Carrier Air Wing 2 ) USS Ranger TOP TEN (based on CV-61 patch on his flight suit)
Patch that could belong to either
NAS Jacksonville Base patch
Patches doesn’t belongs to Michelle
3rd Marine Amphib Patch (Vietnam war period, could be Duke Michelle’s friend’s patch?)
Texas Dallas Flag (Maybe Duke Michelle is from Texas Dallas?)
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CWU-36/P in TGM
Winter weight 45/P & summer weight 36/P. Maverick is shown wearing CWU-36/P (since he is in San Diego)
Patches
Name patch with call sign & wing
VX-31 (Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 31)
Navy Fighter Weapons School patch
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Resources:
patch list: https://av8rstuff.com/TG1-LXjax.html
article on Maverick’s jacket: https://href.li/?https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/the-history-behind-mavericks-jackets-in-both-top-gun-movies
info on Maverick’s jacket: https://href.li/?https://bamfstyle.com/2018/10/27/top-gun-maverick-g1/amp/
COMCRUDESFLOT9:https://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=PublicUnit&type=Unit&ID=11033
COMCRUDESFLOT 9: https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-69000/NH-69553-KN.html
CVW-2 : https://www.seaforces.org/usnair/CVW/Carrier-Air-Wing-2.htm
CV-34 :  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oriskany_(CV-34)
CV-61 USS Ranger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ranger_(CV-61)
US NAVAL CRUISER DESTROYER PACIFIC VIGILANCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/naval-cruiser-destroyer-pacific-439468442
Seabee: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabee
United States Seventh Fleet :  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Seventh_Fleet
3rd Amphibious Corps : https://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=PublicUnit&type=Unit&ID=3252
3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW) :  https://www.3rdmaw.marines.mil/About/History/
CVW-19 : https://www.seaforces.org/usnair/CVW/Carrier-Air-Wing-19.htm
CG 32  -  USS William H. Standley: https://www.seaforces.org/usnships/cg/CG-32-USS-William-H-Standley.htm
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japantourguide · 2 years
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220513-N-GR586-1413 by U.S. Pacific Fleet Via Flickr: MISAWA, Japan (May 13, 2022) Capt. Paul A. Hockran, left, commanding officer of Naval Air Facility (NAF) Misawa, shakes hands with Maj. Gen. Takahiro Kubota, 3rd Air Wing and Japan Air Self-Defense Force Misawa Air Base commander, during an "Elephant Walk" at Misawa Air Base. The Elephant Walk showcased Misawa Air Base's collective readiness and ability to generate combat airpower at a moment's notice to ensure regional stability throughout the Indo-Pacific. NAF Misawa provides aviation and ground logistics support and services to all permanent and transient U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps forces in Northern Japan. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Benjamin Ringers)
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defensenow · 4 months
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Steel Knight 23.2: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Fires AGM-179 Joint Air-to-G...
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xtruss · 6 months
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America Prepares For a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want! Embedded with U.S. Forces in the Pacific, I Saw the Dilemmas of Deterrence Firsthand.
— September 16, 2023 | By Zuri Linetsky | Foreign Policy
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A view from the cockpit shows a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown, Australia, to Darwin at sunset on July 12, 2023. Zuri Linetsky For Foreign Policy
Flying over the Australian Outback at night in a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J aerial refueler, the scene outside the cockpit is a featureless sea of black. The instrument panels are backlit in neon green. The radio crackles in my ear over the baritone drone of the aircraft’s four propellers. Lt. Col. Courtney O’Brien (call sign Britney) alerts me to two fighter planes approaching from the rear. The KC-130J deploys fuel lines from tanks on both wings as incoming Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II fighter jets extend their fuel probes to begin aerial refueling.
I watch as digital displays on five fuel gauges slowly tick down from 50,000 pounds to just under 20,000. As the F-35C’s disconnect and drop away, a core challenge to U.S. strategic objectives across the Pacific theater comes into focus. To operate across this vast region and prepare for a potential conflict with near-peer competitors, the U.S. military needs shrewd solutions for complex logistical puzzles of time and distance.
Ensuring the Indo-Pacific region remains “free and open” is the primary strategic objective of the Biden administration. It seeks to protect the law of the sea, maintain open sea lanes and the free flow of seaborne trade, and resist coercion against Taiwan. To this end, the United States is working to ensure its military capacities can be intermingled with local allies and partners in “integrated deterrence.” This requires sustaining forces thousands of miles from the United States, sitting at the end of intricate supply chains that China has every interest in breaking.
It’s not just that the mission is far away; the theater itself is enormous. Nearly 6,000 miles lay between the U.S. military bases in San Diego and Iwakuni, Japan—more than twice the distance from Washington to Los Angeles. The United States and its allies need to minimize travel time and maximize the time their forces can remain deployed in forward areas.
This requires systems for moving and using fuel, weapons, and other critical supplies, for repairing equipment, and for setting up and maintaining bases. Moving U.S. military personnel and equipment from Australia toward the Chinese coast, for example, requires traveling more than 5,000 miles through Indonesia, the Philippines, and on toward the Taiwan Strait. It can require aerial refueling or airstrips to land on with prepositioned fuel, ordnance, and other supplies.
But these supply chains can be perceived as offensive provocations by China. The United States accumulating access to new airfields and military bases and building up partner military forces it can integrate with seamlessly feeds into Chinese narratives that China is being contained by the United States. I saw this firsthand.
This July, I embedded for a week with a Marine Corps F-35C squadron nicknamed the “Black Knights.” I observed them conduct bilateral training with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and participate in a bilateral exercise with the Philippine Armed Forces during Marine Aviation Support Activity 2023. I watched the Black Knights, elements of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and the I Marine Expeditionary Force to which they belong test features of new logistical systems for distributed maritime operations.
Their systems are thoughtful and sophisticated—but at the same time as deterring China in the name of a free and open Indo-Pacific, they may also risk provoking it.
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A U.S. Marine watches as an F-35 fighter jet lands during a joint military exercise at Subic Bay in the Philippines on July 13. Ted Aljibe/AFP Via Getty Images
On a sunbathed Monday morning, I arrived at the RAAF Base in Williamtown. The base is about 9 miles north of Newcastle, a renowned coal-producing town on the east coast of New South Wales. I was escorted through base security by my host, Lt. Col. Michael O’Brien (call sign Snooki), the commanding officer of the Black Knights and one of the primary fixed-wing aircraft planners for Force Design 2030, the Pacific-orientated strategy for the Marines. (O’Brien retired from the Marines in August, after 20 years of service, and is now running for Congress in Pennsylvania.)
At Williamtown, the Black Knights operate out of a pristine two-story hanger. The hanger is part of a complex of buildings servicing two Australian F-35A squadrons. While the RAAF operates the land-based F-35A, the Black Knights fly the land- or aircraft carrier-based F-35C. The planes are outside, parked in columns under awnings to protect their delicate skin from the elements. The contours of the plane’s design, the metal composite of its panels and parts, and the radar-absorbent material coating the entire jet contribute to its low observability—its stealth. The awnings have power hookups and are Wi-Fi-enabled, allowing mechanical crews to download data from the plane to guide their maintenance work. Snooki’s executive officer, Maj. Derek Heinz (call sign Shootsbe, who left the Black Knights on terminal leave in August to work for Delta while completing his military service with the Marine Reserves), told me the aircraft is essentially several computers, with a pilot managing the plane’s systems along for the ride.
The U.S. and Australian aircraft trained together in the air twice a day while their staffs worked closely on the ground. RAAF No. 3 Squadron Wing Commander Adrian Kiely (call sign Kenny) said he trusts Marine F-35 maintenance crews to conduct unsupervised work on his aircraft. And when a 270-volt battery in a Black Knight F-35C stopped working, Kenny’s squad provided the component from one of their out-of-service aircraft.
The Contours of The Plane’s Design, The Metal Composite of Its Panels and Parts, and The Radar-Absorbent Material Coating The Entire Jet Contribute to Its Low Observability—Its Stealth.
Aircraft maintainers for the Black Knights noted that they could have procured a spare engine or munitions from the Australians if it had been necessary because of the similar aircraft systems. One said that if getting a component from the Aussies didn’t limit their ability to fight, the Marines could have any part they needed. They would then backfill it.
In this case, though, the battery could not be easily procured through the global spares pool. Kenny noted that challenges remain with the sufficiency of spares. In his view, the solution is still “maturing.” But he and Snooki demonstrated an ability and willingness to work toward solutions regarding spare parts at the unit level.
During their training at Williamtown, the Black Knights tested new systems as well. They are the first Marine fighter squadron to use Elon Musk’s Starlink internet system to log data from their aircraft computers to the Defense Department’s cloud-based logistics system. Snooki and his staff reported that the commercial Starlink system the Marines are using while they wait for a hardened version for forward operations is better than the legacy Marine option. But it was dropped at some point on their way to Australia, and the hardware did not function when they arrived at Williamtown.
The Black Knights deployed to the Pacific alongside other units working with U.S. allies and partners. The “Death Rattlers,” an F/A-18 Hornet squadron, were in the Philippines for Marine Aviation Support Activity 2023. Other Marines, including Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, were deployed in Darwin, Australia; Micronesia; Papua New Guinea; and Palau. The Marines I met were curious, funny, and content to be forward deployed. While they enjoyed their down time, they are hyper-focused on their tasks. They swarm aircraft, working like a coordinated hive.
All of these forward-deployed Marines were under the command and control of Brig. Gen. Robert Brodie (call sign Bams), a career F/A-18 pilot, to, among other objectives, test the systems that make up Force Design 2030.
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The Marines, like every branch of the U.S. military, are working to counter China’s anti-access/area denial capability—the use of long- and short-range precision-guided missiles to prevent opposing militaries from operating freely within a predetermined bubble around China’s coastline. Chinese missiles are currently able to target the first island chain, including Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia, about 800 miles from China’s coast. Their range is growing to encompass the second island chain as well—a line connecting Japan’s Bonin Islands, the Mariana Islands (including Guam), the Caroline Islands, and Western New Guinea, about 1,800 miles from China. Most concerningly for the United States and its allies, this emboldens China to act aggressively in the Pacific because it provides an umbrella of protection for its military forces.
The Chinese missile force is currently capable of attacking and destroying U.S. air bases in Japan—including, among others, Kadena Air Base and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni—and is growing to include Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. According to Rand Corp. calculations, even if one-third of Chinese cruise missiles targeting aircraft hangers and open-air parking at Andersen missed or were shot down, a barrage of 53 missiles could incapacitate the base. And stationary air defenses and aircraft can be targeted and destroyed by only a few precision-guided munitions.
For the Marines to get close to China and fight, they must be able to operate within range of China’s missiles. To achieve this, Force Design 2030 conceptualizes a distributed forward operating system, operationalized through hubs, spokes, and nodes.
For the Marines to Get Close to China and Fight, They Must Be Able to Operate within Range of China’s Missiles.
This system divides Marine forces into smaller elements, distributes them at multiple locations, and sustains forward operations using pre-positioned supplies. This new system faces dire wargame projections. In a war with China over Taiwan, in the most likely “base” scenario, the United States could lose between 168 and 372 aircraft, several submarines would be destroyed, and up to 20 surface ships (including as many as two aircraft carriers) would be damaged or destroyed. China would lose more than 160 planes and as many as 140 surface ships. Both sides would deplete their long-range missile stockpiles. And at least 40,000 Chinese military personnel would die, according to one scenario. The United States could run out of sea- and land-based missiles within two weeks of fighting.
The Marine Corps is making its bases and forces more survivable. It is increasing the number of targets that Chinese rockets must hit and the number of rockets each target will require to incapacitate.
“Hubs” are the largest element in the new Marine forward operating concept. They are permanent sites where the U.S. and allied militaries have a higher level of supply and command and control capability. The Williamtown base is an example of a hub for both U.S. and Australian F-35s.
Immediately beyond a hub are “spokes”—forward bases within China’s missile range with a small temporary military presence. They rely on existing infrastructure, including airfields.
The last layer is the temporary “node.” A node has no personnel presence and likely lacks existing infrastructure. A node can be temporarily stood up in a forward area. Supplies for sustaining forward operating units can be pre-positioned at nodes, including fuel and weapons or airfield quick repair equipment. When needed, personnel arrive, stand up the node, use it, and then move on.
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View from the KC-130J as it flies above the Australian Outback en route from Williamtown to Darwin on July 12. Zuri Linetsky For Foreign Policy
Sustaining military forces is not a new concern, nor is it unique to the Pacific. In the initial months of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, its weak logistical systems were exposed and destroyed. The tyranny of distance—the demands of sustaining a military force far from its home bases—even in the relatively small European theater, has been Russia’s undoing.
Napoleon’s campaigns across Europe pioneered new systems for supplying, feeding, and therefore moving La Grande Armée. But they failed him in 1812. The Nazi Afrika Korps under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel cannibalized its equipment and resources because it was operating beyond the reach of its supply lines. The North Africa campaign collapsed as a result.
In the Pacific during World War II, logistics shaped battle planning. Allied capabilities west of Pearl Harbor were determined by shipping capacity. It required the same amount of merchant ship tonnage to move two men to the Southwest Pacific as five men to England. The Battle of Midway was fought over two uninhabited islands, Sand Island and Eastern Island, because the United States and Japan both needed a way station to advance their military forces in the Pacific.
Today in the Pacific, U.S.-led integrated deterrence—introduced by the Biden administration in its 2022 National Defense Strategy—requires the U.S. military to intermingle its capabilities with those of its allies and partners, across air, land, sea, cyberspace, and space, in all manner of conflicts. This intermingling creates forces that work together seamlessly and easily exchange information, equipment, and weapons systems.
At the heart of this, as in World War II, are the U.S. Marines. They’re an expeditionary force—their job is to get close to the enemy and fight as soon as a conflict breaks out. But behind the fighting Marine at the front has always been a vast infrastructure of support and logistics, one that has only grown more complex with modern technology. Force Design 2030, a controversial overhaul of the Marine Corps’ structure, is part of the force’s effort to deter China’s growing military capabilities. Force Design 2030 reconfigured the Marines into three distinct Marine Expeditionary Forces, two of which are focused on the Indo-Pacific. It stresses distributed forward operations and related logistical capabilities as well as preparing military installations for a contested Pacific theater.
A Marine F-35 unit is in a particularly complex position. The F-35 is the cornerstone of U.S. and allied country airpower. It is such an advanced platform that China stole its design information to inform the development of its own fifth-generation fighter, the Chengdu J-20, for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. It costs about $42,000 per flying hour, compared with legacy Marine aircraft such as the F/A-18 Hornet, which costs about $50,000 per flying hour. But across the U.S. military, according to government reporting, the plane is unavailable at high rates, spare parts are not tracked effectively, and its cloud-based logistics system is still being refined.
The F-35’s complexity makes it a template for military-to-military collaboration between the United States and its allies and partners. The Defense Department and Lockheed Martin developed a global shared pool of spare parts located at bases and on aircraft carriers around the world to maintain U.S. and partner aircraft. Watching the Black Knights and the RAAF train together demonstrated how logistically demanding modern weapons systems are—and just what it takes to keep something like the F-35 functioning in the field.
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A U.S. Navy photo shows an F-35B getting refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker over the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 4, 2022. Airman 1ST Class Moses Taylor/U.S. Navy
Getting to hubs, spokes, and nodes requires either air- or sea-based transport. The Black Knights do not fly alone. Fighter aircraft require a constellation of logistical support to stay aloft. Fighter planes need aerial refueling to move long distances. The F-35C burns about 700 gallons of fuel an hour. This figure varies based on the type of flying and altitude. And in addition to relying on the global spares pool and partner military forces, the Black Knights travel with two 747s’ worth of spare parts and other cargo.
Aerial lift and seaborne cargo are provided for all branches of the U.S. military by the Air Force and Navy, respectively. But coordination between the Black Knights and the Air Force was limited while I was with them. As a result, the Boeing 747s carrying cargo to Williamtown for the Black Knights were privately contracted, and they used contract shipping for all seaborne cargo.
Getting to out-of-the-way places in an F-35 is easier than in other fighters because the F-35A and C have a range of about 1,400 miles. This exceeds that of an F-35B and the legacy F/A-18 (both about 900 miles). Unfortunately, in the Pacific theater 1,400 miles is not far—the distance from Hawaii to Japan is about 4,000 miles. So they aerially refuel, or “tank,” from Marine, Air Force, and allied and partner nation planes. But aerial refueling from non-Marine aircraft can be a complicated process.
The F-35A and C Have a Range of About 1,400 Miles—But That’s Not Very Far in The Pacific Theater. And Aerial Refueling From Non-Marine Aircraft Can be a Complicated Process.
Traveling to the Williamtown hub, the Black Knights tanked off Air Force KC-135 Stratotankers—the most common Air Force aerial refueler. According to Snooki and Shootsbe, less experienced F-35C pilots struggle to refuel from Stratotankers. F-35B and C variants have intentionally delicate aerial refueling probes to protect the plane if there is a problem during refueling.
The Stratotanker refueling assembly must be kinked at a 90-degree angle by the F-35 fuel probe to initiate refueling. This is not an easy process. It is common for probes to break off inside the Stratotanker refueling line. A broken fuel probe grounds both an F-35 and its aerial refueler. Snooki and Shootsbe oversaw when, where, and if less experienced pilots refueled from KC-135s. On the way to Williamtown, knowing that Stratotankers would be their refuelers, not all the Black Knights’ young pilots flew their planes, out of an abundance of caution. They flew as passengers on KC-130J’s.
The F-35 faces other challenges at spokes and nodes. Both the F-35A and C need approximately 6,000 feet of runway for landings, primarily for landing on wet surfaces. Runways must be free of foreign objects and debris, such as rocks and birds, which can cause catastrophic damage to the aircraft’s single Pratt & Whitney F135 engine. Before landing on a runway, a Marine Wing Support Squadron must sweep it for foreign objects and debris and check it for viability and security.
Not all spokes and nodes are created equal. While 6,000-foot-long runways exist across the Pacific theater—such as at the air base in Butterworth, Malaysia—some are easier to use immediately, while others require time, effort, and human power to prepare. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and its various military elements conduct regular regional surveys to move runways from red (unusable) to green (the military can land fighter aircraft). The key is local security, removing foreign objects and debris by getting sweepers and vacuums to austere locations, and, most critically, distributing fuel to nodes.
Despite being designed to operate from aircraft carriers, the Black Knights’ F-35C’s are dealing with corrosion. Ferrous metal in the planes’ stealthy skin reacts with salt water. Williamtown’s awnings helped mitigate this. But this infrastructure is not available at spokes and nodes or on aircraft carriers. While the Marines are working toward a solution, corrosion has been an issue with stealth fighters for more than a decade.
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Armed Death Rattler F/A-18s sit on the tarmac at Subic Bay on July 13. Zuri Linetsky For Foreign Policy
After being exposed to the Williamtown hub, I traveled with several Black Knights to Subic Bay in the Philippines for the end of Marine Aviation Support Activity 2023. The planned itinerary was a test of two spokes in the Philippines. And, from Snooki’s perspective, it was a visual demonstration of how an alliance contributes to deterrence. It served as a stress test of the F-35 global spares pool as well.
On a bright Wednesday morning, I boarded a Marine KC-130J commanded by Britney (who happens to be Snooki’s wife, and the Marines rank as one of their top pilots). Britney leads the “Raiders,” the Black Knights’ sister KC-130J squadron. The flight was the first leg, or about half the distance, of the nearly 5,000-mile journey to Subic Bay, where the Black Knights were scheduled to join the Death Rattlers for an aerial strike demonstration.
The KC-130J is a turboprop plane that plays a vital role in everything the Marines do. It can ferry personnel and carry tons of F-35 spare parts or other cargo, such as ordnance. It can land on any surface and requires only 3,000 feet of runaway. Britney said it’s “formatted for the distributed operations concept.” For this flight, in addition to people and cargo, it carried more than 60,000 pounds of fuel for aerial refueling fighter aircraft.
Two hours after Britney’s plane lifted off, it turned back. One of the two Black Knight F-35s making the journey north was unable to take off because of an issue with an onboard computer. After fueling the KC-130J again and a maintenance delay for the F-35, we set off again. The aircraft flew north, toward the setting sun and the RAAF Base in Darwin. During the five-hour flight, Britney tanked Snooki and his wingman, Capt. Christian Scroggs (call sign Dory).
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A U.S. Navy photo shows a crew member directing a Black Knight F-35C on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier somewhere in the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 8, 2022. Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Michael Singley/U.S. Navy
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A U.S. Navy photo shows a Black Knight F-35C as it launches from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Philippine Sea on April 19, 2022. Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Javier Reyes/U.S. Navy
After a night in Darwin, I boarded a second KC-130J to Subic Bay. The passenger list was augmented by Bams; Col. William J. Mitchell (call sign Skull), an F/A-18 pilot and Snooki’s boss; and several enlisted personnel. During the flight, Bams and Skull discussed the importance of allies and partners for navigating the tyranny of distance in the Pacific and sustaining deterrence vis-à-vis China. “Every day that a near-peer competitor wakes up and senior leadership decides not to escalate, that’s a win [for U.S. deterrence],” Bams said. He noted that exercises with allies and partners are critical to this mission, that they build “sets and reps.” In his view, exercises build relationships and expand U.S. access in the region, which facilitates forward operations in both the first and second island chains.
The flight to Subic Bay covered about 2,500 miles (nearly the width of the continental United States) and took more than six hours. It highlighted the importance of regional partnerships for the U.S. military. The United States and Indonesia have a strategic partnership. They conduct bilateral military exercises. But the United States does not have unrestricted access and overflight rights in Indonesian airspace. All overflight requires lead time and coordination. Snooki told me that while the Black Knights transited over Indonesian land, our KC-130J could not. Britney referred to the flight path as “the snake around Indonesia.”
We arrived in Subic Bay by Wednesday afternoon, without the Black Knights. Snooki and Dory turned around after a new Air Force KC-46 Pegasus refueling basket failed to deploy.
The following rain-soaked day, parts of several 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing squadrons were gathered in a nondescript airplane hangar in the Subic Bay airport serving as a command and control center. Other areas in the local airport temporarily hosted Air Force and Army Special Operations Aviation aircraft, drones, cargo, and personnel.
For the upcoming aerial strike demonstration, four Death Rattler F/A-18s and two Black Knight F-35s would fly 15 miles off the Philippine coast and strike a vessel towed into place by the Philippine Armed Forces. A fifth F/A-18 would fly to an air base in Palawan province to demonstrate the Marine ability to refuel and rearm aircraft at a separate spoke.
At approximately 1:30 p.m. local time, the Black Knights circled the airport and landed. It was still raining. Snooki and Dory taxied around the airstrip as the Death Rattlers’ planes were armed with ordnance. The rain intensified. The F/A-18s waited for the rain to abate to start their strike. An hour later, the Death Rattlers pilot scheduled to fly to Palawan climbed out of his plane. Something had gone wrong. While he could fly in an emergency, he would not fly in the rain that day.
I met Snooki again at 3 p.m. He was animated. The bad news was his plane was out of service. He and Dory flew through an intense storm to get to Subic Bay, which damaged several parts in his plane. The good news was, despite the storm, they had conducted valuable auxiliary surveillance during their flight.
Both Snooki’s broken plane and Dory’s aircraft were parked in Bams’s command hangar at approximately 3:30 p.m. They sat alongside two privately owned Gulfstream jets. Dory helped me determine that both planes were fractionally owned by U.S. holding companies. The hangar’s director of flight operations told me that one is owned by a Filipino. The other is owned by someone in Singapore, who rumors circulating among the Marines suggested is Chinese. One of the challenges of working from spokes is they are not exclusively for U.S. use, and it is difficult to secure a stealth aircraft while hangar staff snap photos.
Snooki’s aircraft took four days to be repaired. It was guarded 24 hours a day while it was out of service. A Raider KC-130J ferried parts, a RAAF 28-volt battery, and people to Subic Bay from Williamtown to diagnose the damaged plane. Then a Raiders plane flew to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, where an F-35B squadron called the “Green Knights” is stationed. Snooki served as the executive officer of the Green Knights, and he planned their move to Iwakuni. The Black Knights drew on F-35B parts, including a generator, to fix Snooki’s aircraft. There were no C model-specific parts in Williamtown, and the supply was limited in Iwakuni.
While The Marines Reported That They Learned Many Valuable Logistical and Coordination Lessons, Exactly How These Lessons Will Be Applied and Scaled for Wartime Mobilization is Unclear.
Snooki told me that repairing his plane was a success for F-35 logistics. His unit drew on a range of spare parts available in theater that they were unable to bring or ship. Lockheed Martin, Black Knights pilots observed, controls the proprietary parts of the F-35 and can slow repair troubleshooting. Pilots and maintenance crews are consistent: The major impediment for Marine operations in the Pacific is the erratic process for getting spare parts and cargo into and inside the theater, followed closely by access to fuel and the rigors of aerial refueling.
Due to the unrelenting rain and storm and the two broken planes, neither the planned ship strike nor the F/A-18 refueling flight happened.
After repairing his plane, Snooki and Dory flew to Wake Island, a U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, to meet their squadron. But they got stuck. There were no Air Force tankers available to move them. Ultimately, the squadron relied on two Raider KC-130J’s to move them, two at a time, back to Hawaii over five days. Britney told me that her unit takes a twisted pride in this: “We like being the ones who always find a way to get to yes.” From Hawaii to San Diego, the Black Knights contracted a private aerial refueler. This was despite an ongoing Air Force exercise in the Pacific at the time, which was ironically designed to test Air Force logistics and coordination with allies and partners.
In peacetime, the Black Knights had to navigate several logistical hurdles to fix Snooki’s plane, from diagnosing the issue to traversing the Pacific for spare parts and then making their way home. They did it on their own with the support of the Raiders and contract aerial refueling and shipping.
This is in ideal circumstances, when Marine systems do not have to cope with many different F-35s or F/A-18s breaking and being shot at once or partner and allied militaries needing all the spare parts available to them. And while the Marines reported that they learned many valuable logistical and coordination lessons, exactly how these lessons will be applied and scaled for wartime mobilization is unclear.
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A J-20 fighter jet performs during the Changchun Air Show in China’s Jilin province on July 26. Wan Quan/VCG Via Getty Images
Any form of deterrence is perhaps best thought of as a psychological state, predicated on decision-makers’ emotions and perceptions. U.S. efforts at deterrence failed to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine—but the argument about whether that’s because Washington did too little or too much continues.
The United States does not know the variables involved in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s calculations about conflict in Asia. U.S. leaders trying to find an equation for when enough military intermingling with allies and partners produces sufficient integrated deterrence face an inherently unprovable problem. The success of deterrence can only show over time; its failure is more immediate and far more costly.
And it’s hard to know the impact U.S. doctrinal and tactical choices have—unintentionally or otherwise—on China. Huang Xilian, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, said in April that offering the United States access to military bases near the Taiwan Strait was “stoking the fire” of regional tensions. But Beijing has an inherent interest in saying any action that deters it is a provocation.
Yet surrounding any country with permanent and temporary bases that can be used to deny access to sea lanes and launch standoff fire power could reasonably be viewed as provocative—even if the countries involved welcome it. This concern is magnified by the F-35 because of how well it operates with allies, common logistical networks, its stealth, and its longer range.
Both Air Force and Marine refuelers are large aircraft that attract the attention of adversaries, especially if they are in the air for long periods of time. As the Air Force and Marines address their coordination issues (on refueling booms and refueling in general), and both employ common hubs, spokes, and nodes to support integrated deterrence, near-peer competitor security concerns might be further magnified.
It’s equally clear that elements in the Chinese leadership believe U.S. efforts to be tantamount to offensive encirclement—and thus preparation for an unprovoked war.
The sheer scale of the U.S. military is intimidating to any adversary—and might prompt worries that the United States intends to strike first.
Washington pays little regard to these Chinese concerns. And to be sure, for the last two decades China has built up military infrastructure across the South China Sea, which it continues to expand. It has armed man-made islands with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems as well as electronic warfare tools. These islands support China’s menacing of neighboring countries, against which it makes extensive territorial claims. From the U.S. perspective, even if China views U.S. actions as provocative, Beijing has built its own arguably defensive but certainly provocative military systems.
The Biden administration and the I Marine Expeditionary Force believe their tactical efforts in Asia are clearly defensive. This is demonstrated by their coordination with partners and allies. Indeed, several U.S. allies and partners in the region have expressed their preference for the United States to help deter China. But it’s equally clear that elements in the Chinese leadership believe these efforts to be tantamount to offensive encirclement—and thus preparation for an unprovoked war.
Every pilot I spoke to believed investing in deterrence is right and necessary and that allies and partners are key. Yet it’s hard to know how these systems will cope in the event of war. It is impossible to determine if all this preparation, and the costs that come with it, is deterring China—or ultimately provoking conflict.
— Zuri Linetsky is a Research Fellow at the Eurasia Group Foundation.
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F/A-18D Hornet accident in Miramar, San Diego
Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 08/26/2023 - 16:01in Aeronautical Accidents, Military
An F/A-18D Hornet jet crashed on Thursday night near the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, California.
The accident occurred on government property east of the air station at 11:54 p.m. (local time), the facility said in a statement on Friday morning.
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The aircraft operated from the Navy air station, but was not part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is based in it, according to the statement. She was from Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA (AW)) 224, of MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina. The only pilot on board ended up dying in the accident.
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“Search and rescue operations are underway,” the statement said. “An investigation has begun. We will provide more information as soon as it is available."
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Captain Michael Scaccia, a spokesman for the Navy, said that the authorities of the San Diego facility were working to determine the details of the accident.
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The San Diego Fire Rescue Department told the CBS affiliate that it had a helicopter flying over the accident site in search of the pilot's body.
The Marine Corps has gradually eliminated the old Hornets and replaced them with F-35B Lighting II jets.
Tags: Aeronautical AccidentsMilitary AviationF/A-18C/D HornetUSMC - United States Marine Corps/U.S. Marine Corps
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Fernando Valduga
Fernando Valduga
Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Daytona Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work throughout the world of aviation.
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Books of 2023
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Book 5 of 2023
Title: Killer Kane Authors: Andrew R. Finlayson ISBN: 9780786477012 Tags: 1968 Washington D.C Riots, Averell Harriman, Bess Clements Abell, Camp David, Catoctin Mountains MD, CH-34 Choctaw, CH-46 Sea Knight, CIA, CIDG, From LAPL, General Herman Nickerson, General Samuel B. Griffith, General William Westmoreland, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, John F. Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr, Maryland, North Korea, Okinawa, Okinawa - Northern Training Area (NTA), Robert McNamara, Soviet FROG-3 Missile, SpecOps, US Capitol Building, USA 3rd Infantry Regiment, USAF Kadena Airbase, USAID John Paul Vann, USMC, USMC 12th Marines, USMC 1st Force Recon Co, USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Brisbane (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Circumstance (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Club Car (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Countersign (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Killer Kane (Vietnam War), USMC 1st Force Recon Co - Team Swift Scout (Vietnam War), USMC 1st MarDiv, USMC 1st Marine Air Wing, USMC 1st Marines, USMC 1st Marines - 1/1, USMC 1st Marines - 1/1 - F Co, USMC 1st Marines - 2/1, USMC 1st Marines - 2/1 - E Co, USMC 1st Recon Bn, USMC 1st Recon Bn - E Co, USMC 1st Tank Bn, USMC 26th Marines, USMC 26th Marines - 1/26, USMC 26th Marines - 1/26 - F Co, USMC 3rd Marines, USMC 3rd Marines - 2/3, USMC 5th Marines, USMC 5th Marines - 2/5, USMC 5th Marines - 2/5 - F Co, USMC 7th Marines, USMC 7th Marines - 1/7, USMC 7th Marines - 2/7, USMC 7th Marines - 2/7 - G Co, USMC 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, USMC Air Observers - Black Coats (Vietnam War), USMC Camp Hansen, USMC Camp Pendleton, USMC Camp Schwab, USMC Force Recon, USMC Marine Barracks Washington (8th and I), USMC Scout Dogs, USMC The Basic School, USMC Washington Barracks Guard Co., USN USS Pueblo (AGER 2), USNA, VNM 1968 Tet Offensive (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM A Shau Valley, VNM A Vuong River, VNM An Bang, VNM An Hoa, VNM An Long, VNM An Son, VNM Antenna Valley, VNM Ap Ba, VNM Arizona Territory, VNM Ba Na Mountain, VNM Base Area 112, VNM Battle of Hue City (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Battle of Khe Sanh (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Camp Hansen, VNM Camp Reasoner, VNM Charlie Med, VNM CIA Phung Hoang / Phoenix Program (1965-1972) (Vietnam War), VNM Col de Ba Lien, VNM Command and Control North/FOB-1 (Vietnam War), VNM Da Nang, VNM Da Son, VNM Dam Cao Hai Bay, VNM Dong Nhut Mountain, VNM DRV NVA 2nd Division, VNM DRV NVA 320th Reconnaissance Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 368th Artillery (Rocket) Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 3rd Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 402nd Sapper Battalion, VNM Elephant Valley, VNM Freedom Hill PX, VNM Happy Valley, VNM Hiep Duc, VNM Hill 170, VNM Hill 199, VNM Hill 203, VNM Hill 224, VNM Hill 324, VNM Hill 327, VNM Hill 35, VNM Hill 372, VNM Hill 381, VNM Hill 387, VNM Hill 406, VNM Hill 417, VNM Hill 441, VNM Hill 452, VNM Hill 454, VNM Hill 478, VNM Hill 498, VNM Hill 502, VNM Hill 537, VNM Hill 575 (Tam Dieo Mountain), VNM Hill 582 (Kon Chay Mountain), VNM Hill 592, VNM Hill 594, VNM Hill 623, VNM Hill 678, VNM Hill 749, VNM Hill 800, VNM Hill 89, VNM Ho Chi Minh Trail, VNM Hoi An Thuong, VNM Hon Cau Mountain, VNM Hue, VNM Khe Dienne River, VNM Khe Gio tributary, VNM Khuong Dai, VNM Loc Tu, VNM LZ Finch, VNM MEDCAP, VNM Mortar Valley, VNM Nam O Bridge, VNM Ninh Dinh, VNM Ninh Khanh, VNM Ninh Long, VNM Nong Son Coal Mine, VNM Nui Ba Hoa, VNM Nui Chom, VNM Nui Nhu, VNM Nui Son Ga (Charlie Ridge), VNM Ong Thu Slope, VNM Operation Arizona (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Calhoun (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Claxon (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Knox (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Pecos (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Snoopy (People Sniffer) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Union I (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Union II (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Wheeler (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Phouc Ly, VNM Phouc Tuong, VNM Phouc Tuong (Dogpatch), VNM Phu Bai, VNM Phu Gia Pass, VNM Phu Loc, VNM Quang Duc Duc, VNM Quang Nam Province, VNM Quang Tri Province, VNM Que Son Mountains, VNM Que Son Valley, VNM Route 1, VNM Route 545, VNM RVN RVNP CSDB PRU Provincial Reconnaissance Units (Vietnam War), VNM Saigon, VNM Song Cu De, VNM Song Ly Ly, VNM Song Thu Bon, VNM Song Tinh Yen, VNM Song Vu Gia, VNM Song Yang, VNM Tam Kho, VNM Tam Talou Tributary, VNM Thach Bich, VNM The Enchanted Forest, VNM The Garden of Eden, VNM Thua Thien Province, VNM Thuan Long, VNM Thuong Duc, VNM Ti Tau Mountain, VNM Trang Bang, VNM Trao Hamlet, VNM Tu Phu, VNM US MACVSOG (1964-1972) (Vietnam War), VNM US MACVSOG Road Runner Teams (Vietnam War), VNM USMC AHCB An Hoa Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM USMC Combined Action Platoon, VNM USMC KSCB Khe Sanh Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM Vietnam, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975), VNM Yellow Brick Road, Washington D.C Rating: 5 stars Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Specops.Marine Recon
Description: 
  The leader of one of the most successful U. S. Marine long range reconnaissance teams during the Vietnam War, Andrew Finlayson recounts his team's experiences in the year leading up to the Tet Offensive of 1968. Using primary sources, such as Marine Corps unit histories and his own weekly letters home, he presents a highly personal account of the dangerous missions conducted by this team of young Marines as they searched for North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong units in such dangerous locales as Elephant Valley, the Enchanted Forest, Charlie Ridge, Happy Valley and the Que Son Mountains.   In numerous close contacts with the enemy, the team (code-name Killer Kane) fights for its survival against desperate odds, narrowly escaping death time and again. The book gives vivid descriptions of the life of recon Marines when they are not on patrol, the beauty of the landscape they traverse, and several of the author's Vietnamese friends. It also explains in detail the preparations for, and the conduct of, a successful long range reconnaissance patrol.
Review: 
Finlayson has a very particular point of view on the war, and warfare. Throughout the book, he is constantly made aware that his actions and behaviors are both dangerous and obsessive. Yet, even though he acknowledges it, and says he takes it to heart, he still has the narcissistic bent to ignore them and feel that his way is the right way. 
That’s both a positive and a negative.
His teams brought the war to the enemy and were immensely productive as far as kills and intelligence gathered. At the same time, they were in many ways reckless and dangerous. 
God loves a fool and who dares wins are basically how he operates.
Overall though, the book gives you great insight into HIS way of running recon teams, and how Team Killer Kane/Swift Scout operated, the gear they took, the places they operated in, and who the people were. His writing style is quick paced and gives you a good sense of his thoughts and emotions and allows you to understand where his head was at and what he experienced.
While there were a few errors, especially in regards to keeping track of a persons rank (one page they’re corporal, next they’re a sergeant), and the weapons (carrying my m-14, and had 5 magazines of 5.56mm), the book is well done. 
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electronicwriter · 2 years
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#Repost @deptvetaffairs • • • • • • George Everett “Bud” Day was born in February 1925 in Sioux City, Iowa. He dropped out of high school to enlist in the Marine Corps at age 17. He spent 30 months with the 3rd Defense Battalion on Johnson Island, and was discharged in November 1945, then was in Army Reserve until December 1949. In the Reserve, Day earned a law degree from the University of South Dakota. In May 1950, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Iowa Air National Guard. He went on active duty in March 1951. He trained at Webb Air Force Base in Texas and at All-Weather Interceptor School. Day became an F-84 pilot in the 559th Strategic Fighter Squadron in February 1953. He deployed to Hokkaido, Japan, then Misawa, Japan, during the Korean War. He served as an F-84 and F-100 pilot with the 55th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 20th Fighter Bomber Wing, as well as wing staff at RAF Wethersfield, England. Afterward, Day became an aerospace assistant professor with the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps detachment at St. Louis University in Missouri. He attended Armed Forces Staff College for Counterinsurgency Indoctrination training at Norfolk, Virginia, then served as an Air Force advisor to the New York Air National Guard at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport. In August 1967, Day commanded Detachment 1, 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Commando Sabre. On his 65th mission of the war, he and his crew were shot down and forced to eject from his F-100F. Day was captured and the remaining crew escaped. He attempted escape, traveling 25 miles for 10 days and crossing the Ben Hai River into South Vietnam. Two miles away from a Marine base, he was recaptured by Viet Cong insurgents and was a POW for 67 months. After enduring torture from prison guards, he was freed in Operation Homecoming in March 1973. He was awarded a Medal of Honor in March 1976 and retired in December 1977 a colonel. Day spent nearly 8,000 total hours flying and received several awards, including a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. He died at age 88 in July 2013 in Shalimar, Florida. He was promoted to brigadier general posthumously on June 8, 2018. We honor his service. https://www.instagram.com/p/Chz_Mh5pWzf/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
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the-nomadicone · 2 years
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Super Stallion // United States Marine Corps
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