Far East Cynic

Even a Sumo grand champion like Akebono:

Actually, he is pretty good, if you ask me. What’s next? Dancing with the Stars?

The chicks in the background are not too shabby either………

Charlie Wilson died yesterday. That is a totally sad development. Wilson will receive a Feb. 23 graveside service with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

He deserves that kind of funeral-and our gratitude.

Let me be blunt-Congress needs more guys like him and less guys ( and gals) like this one.

I admire Charlie Wilson because he is  my ideal Congressman-a work hard,  play hard,  kind of guy:

A self-confessed playboy, Wilson was investigated, but never convicted, over taking cocaine in a Las Vegas strip club. Wilson’s luckless young prosecutor was Rudolph Giuliani, the former Republican mayor of New York, who, as Republican mayor of New York, ran into a tabloid scandal or two of his own.

Wilson’s close ties with the CIA, for which he secured hundreds of millions of dollars in Congress, was the nexus that channelled US money and weapons to the Afghan fighters – in particular the plane-loads of anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, which some analysts say was decisive in persuading the Soviets to withdraw in 1989.

But Wilson, who represented the same Texas district for more than a quarter of a century, might ultimately be remembered for his brilliant manipulation of congressional procedures. His Democratic colleague from Michigan, John Dingell, once said: “You take substance and give me procedure, and I’ll screw you every time.” Wilson’s mastery of the House appropriations subcommittee on defence is a classic example of that.

Re-elected 12 times on the slogan, “Wilson Gets it Done”, he was the type of Democrat the party rarely, if ever, produces any longer. A hawkish, cold war warrior, Wilson was also strongly progressive on social issues. Nowadays, the few Democrats who get elected to Washington from the southern states are usually social conservatives.

I admire the man for a whole bunch of reasons. And yes,  the fact that he loved women-and drank a lot,  is one or two of them. More men should drink a lot and chase women-the country would be better for it.

A guy like Charlie Wilson cannot get elected today-so screwed up is American electoral politics- with its obsession with having politicians who subscribe to a warped, Puritan, vision of relationships between men and women. Charlie Wilson liked to have fun-and made no secret of it. He and I appear to have a lot in common:

While his comments about women made many wince — and would hardly be shrugged at today as they were back then — he always had good, professional relationships with the Democratic women he served with. And while his voting record was reliably liberal — he was a strong supporter of abortion rights and providing for unpaid family and medical leave — he was a consistent opponent of gun control. He also opposed lifting the ban on gays in the military.

Hey, the guy once called Pat Schroeder, “babycakes”. What’s not to like about that?

What most of the moralizing idiots of the world forget is that Charlie always showed up for work on time- and if he had a fondness for women and booze, so what? Every man needs a hobby. His and mine align quite well.

“Charlie was perfect as a congressman, perfect as a state representative, perfect as a state senator. He was a perfect reflection of the people he represented,” said Charles Schnabel Jr., who served for seven years as Wilson’s chief of staff in Washington and worked with Wilson when he served in the Texas Senate.

Temple, who was with Wilson when he collapsed Wednesday, said that despite Wilson’s reputation as a playboy, he was serious about representing eastern Texas, including helping to create the Big Thicket National Preserve — almost 100,000 acres of swamps, bogs and forests.

Wilson left politics in 1996, after he no longer found it fun. If you ask me- he was prescient, leaving before the world of You Tube would have made it impossible to do the wheeling and dealing that was necessary to get things done. Certainly he had a lot more going for him than idiots like John Boehner. To borrow a line from comedian Rick Ducommun: So it’s wrong to make love to a beautiful woman? Well lock me up and take me to Russia!

I first heard the news on NPR this morning. I have to admit-I smiled when I heard this particular anecdote about him. I think its great-and great measure of the man:

GOODWYN: Plane loads of stinger missiles, beginning in 1986, began to turn the tide against the Russians. By 1989, it was over in Afghanistan, at least for the Soviet Union. But it was never easy getting Wilson reelected in the heart of the Bible Belt. TV advertising man, Mark McCannon, who worked for Wilson, recalls how nearly every campaign, they had to cope was some embarrassing revelation about Wilson’s after hours activities. The problem was, Wilson wasn’t ever-really embarrassed. At the beginning of one contest, Wilson called his strategist into his office.

Mr. MARK MCCANNON (Strategist for Charlie Wilson, Former): We sat down and he said, boys, you know what? I know we had a lot of issues in past campaigns that were difficult to deal with, but I want to reassure you this time its going to be easier. Because Ive settle down, met a good Christian woman; she sings in the church choir, doesn’t drink a lick, I love her, and were plan on getting married – just as soon as she graduates from high school.

GOODWYN: Wilson was just having a bit of fun with his poor beleaguered campaign staff, but Charlie Wilsons tryst with a stunningly beautiful Russian model was no joke. The two were seen together everywhere in Washington. When Wilson announced they were getting married, politicians on both sides of the aisle were aghast. The Congressman from East Texas knew more about American military spending and the CIA than practically any man alive. What in the world was Charlie whispering to her under the covers? He was called before a Congressional committee and ordered to explain. Wilson told them to relax, saying, the only secret I’m giving her is Victoria’s Secret. It was an answer they could all believe, nevertheless, Good Time Charlie broke it off with the Soviet model not long after.

May God grant him a place in the heavens and peace.

Of when its OK to call someone a retard. Stephen Colbert explains:

Maybe our “over taxed” friends should spend less time with Ayn Rand and more time with these guys:

Check out the debate here!. It would appear both men were right-but right now, Huxley appears to be ahead on points.

From Galrahn:

The third biggest issue is the apparent ass kicking someone in NAVAIR needs for completely forgetting to include Rotary Wing aircraft in the Navy’s 30 year aviation plan. On one hand we have the QDR stressing the importance of Rotary Wing, and on the other hand we have this quote from page 7 of the 30 year aviation plan:

The majority of modern platforms have the ability to perform across many traditional mission sets (e.g. the surveillance and strike capability of the MQ-9 and the cargo and aerial refueling capability of the KC-130). The multirole nature of our assets makes them highly adaptive, fostering significant mission flexibility for the joint force. For the purposes of this report, the aviation plan groups aircraft into seven categories according to their primary mission: fighter/attack; unmanned multirole surveillance and strike; ISR/command and control (C2); intratheater lift; strategic lift; aerial refueling tankers; and bombers. Rotary wing, tilt-rotor, and trainer aircraft are not included.

This is the kind of overwhelming stupidity one finds when Fighter Jocks are the only aviators who make Flag officer.( Skippy comment: That’s  not 100% true-besides female STRATCOM community officers, Helo and E-2 folks have made flag-only they never get to direct aviation policy. They run the the shore establishment)  Helicopters matter to the Navy at least as much as other aviation, and in just about every aviation capability from the sea short of land attack – they matter most to the fleet. Rotary Wing aircraft are not only the most important aviation capability in HA/DR, but make up the only organic aviation capabilities in a strike group today that can provide ASW from the air. Are we not adding Romeos and Sierras into strike groups having previously recognized that we had not originally planned enough Rotary Wing capability? Remember what I said about littoral warfare? Rotary Wing is littoral warfare to the Navy, and is the most important aviation asset in small wars. Afghanistan proves this.

We are deploying ships with hangers to fight piracy without helicopters, USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) being a perfect example, because we want them to have ScanEagles. In the meantime the amphibious ships don’t have the ScanEagles they need for the Marines at sea, and when the Navy looks at aviation with a 30 year plan they forget to include helicopters?

It reminded me of something that annoyed me a bit while I was at West. I think it was Rear Admiral William J. Holland who asked a question of the panel on Thursday afternoon asking the panel “If you were required to cut something from the force to save $2 billion, what would it be?” Bob Works answer was legacy ISR – which to me says P-3s. We have already retired the S-3s, so why not?

The US Navy may have a fighter gap, but they have a serious strategic planning gap in the aviation community when priorities like the P-3 and Rotary Wing are considered back of the bus capabilities of the Navy. Leadership in Navy Aviation is too busy trying to be the Air Force instead of emphasizing missions and capabilities that are core Navy missions. This is a troubling trend that suggests a complete lack of clarity towards ones primary mission; the kind of trouble that I strongly believe is worth cutting an aircraft carrier or two to fix if necessary.

Yesterday, my little blog was five years old. As is typical for me lately, I’m a day late and more than a few dollars short writing about it. The five years have been interesting and I’ve learned a lot,  both good and bad,  about writing and people.

I began this blog out of a sense of frustration responding to a huge personal disappointment in my life; created by nothing but sheer stupidity on the part of other people……..on the part of the “big bad establishment”. My disgust with their simplistic trying to slot people into molds, set me off on the path of blogging to begin with. That particular personal disappointment was a “Y” of sorts in my life-one that the width of which was not readily apparent at the time-but became disappointingly clear to me after I returned to the United States. The sober realization of the malicious damage done to me by  one wrong headed decision on their part has, if anything, amplified my “cynicism” about the “establishment” within the US military. The reason I entitled the blog Far East Cynic had , in part, to do with my overwhelming anger at the hypocrisy of people taking a “moral” position on one issue and not looking at a person for what he or she really is-just taking the “cookbook” solution.

However at the same time, I wanted to have a varied outlet to write about whatever interested me. And that, I think I have done-probably to the detriment of my hit counter. Over the years I have noticed attempts by some to “slot” me in to a specific type of blog. Or to catalog me as a particular type of blogger. I hope that those attempts continue to fail in the future.

This blog writes about politics-to be sure. Especially since life in the Shopping Mall USA is so hideously boring and silly,  there is little else to write about. To say that I am a “liberal” or “conservative” blogger however,  is simply not capturing what I am really.  I’m somewhere in between.

It is true that I have parted ways with much of what constitutes orthodoxy in the Republican party. I simply cannot abide what they now consider to be “ground truth”. I blame them for walking away from me-not the other way around.

That said-I am hardly what could be construed as liberal. I still don’t like feminism. I still am not comfortable with the obsession with “gay” issues-nor do I have much use for what supposedly passes for leadership within the Democratic party. I like to think I am still firmly ensconced in the middle of the road. It is just that road has careened off a steep curve and left a lot of us, standing on the curve.

As for other things- I still want to write about what strikes my fancy. My compelling interests in women and sex have not abated-as neither has my desire for international travel and excitement. I am still desperately wanting to get back to Asia-but I need to do so in a way that does not bankrupt me. Regardless of which side of the dateline I am on-the bills are not going to pay themselves you know.

Five years is well into middle age for a blog. And I will agree with those who say there have been “peaks and valleys”  in my content. They are right-and I am most definitely in a valley right now. I would submit, that since its an accurate reflection of where I am life wise and otherwise-then it may not be as much of a bad thing as some people may think. I’d also submit that when I was in Japan the adventure factor was a heck of a lot higher however-and that provided me with a wider variety of things to blog about. Now its more like a stuck record-I get up, the S.O. gets up. I go to work and she putters around the house. One of us is happy the other is not. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which person that is. That does not-surprise surprise- make for opportunities to provide unique content.

So why not just quit? Surely there are better uses for my time. Blogs are so passe anyway,  right?

Because the simple truth is-I don’t want to. There are still things to say-and that need to be said- by me. It is my sincere hope that I can remain able to package it into a product people will listen to.   And there is still adventure out there somewhere in the world for me.  That I know-writing about it helps focus me on my goals.

So-just like in life-perseverance needs to be the key.  Press on and don’t let the critics get you down. I’ve still got much to do before I sleep and people to see and things to experience. On the grand scale of things-I’ve been very lucky on that score and I hope my luck continues.

I am grateful for my audience-from the commenters and the lurkers and I hope that you will keep coming back. I’m most appreciative of the expressions of support that came from out of nowhere during some pretty bad times in the past couple of years.  They meant a lot to me at the time and they still mean a lot to me now. I’ll try to repay the favor in the coming year(s).

In the meantime-its my hope you will keep coming here and reading my thoughts.

Here’s to me!

I am surprised to see how little play, the election of Susumu Inamine has gotten here in the United States. I realize that the election of Scott Brown is the greatest event short of the second coming-but folks ought to maybe pay some attention.

Because the whole apple-cart of the Defense Realignment in Japan just may be getting ready to tip over:

Inamine’s victory will make it less likely that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will seek to abide by the 2006 accord to relocate the air base to the Henoko area at Camp Schwab.

“I want to convey the will of the Nago residents to the central and prefectural governments” by passing a resolution at the city assembly, Inamine, 64, said after beating the incumbent, who had expressed a willingness to accept the relocation plan.

“So many military bases are concentrated in Okinawa. I expect the government to examine national security as an issue for the whole country, rather than seeking an alternative relocation site (for the Futenma facility) within Okinawa,” he said.

Which ought to prove interesting -since the US says its that deal, or nothing.

What’s going to happen?

Well that is a good question. My own personal opinion is that Japan has the stronger hand here-for a wide variety of reasons. One, they know the US is now on a development track in Guam that will be difficult politically and economically to undo. Second-despite what your friends in the USAF may say-there is room on Kadena to house more aircraft there. The amount of real estate the USAF maintains at its bases in Japan, compared to what the Navy and Marines have is just obscene. And the Japanese know it.

Nonetheless, there are still some cards the US can play. For one thing-it could announce that it is going to unilaterally halt the movement of Carrier Air Wing Five to Iwakuni. That would free up a bunch of money-while still leaving Japan on the hook to finish the new runway at Iwakuni. The movement of  the air wing to Iwakuni was a stupid move anyway-and it actually would be to the US’s advantage not to go through with it.

The US would still have the bone of moving the 8000 Marines to Guam however-and the dangling prospect of an F-18 one day dropping in on Yamato Station-it might scare enough folks that they reconsider the idea of stonewalling an alternate site. Especially since,  otherUS  denizens have designs on facilities at Atsugi.  Especially the scum sucking P-3 guys up in Misawa, who where edged out of their effort to take over what was never theirs in 2003. ( The tawdry story of how the P-3 guys screwed up my former place of employ is a separate post in and of itself. Screw you Grunie! ).

Nonetheless, the reality will remain, the US needs bases in Japan more than the Japanese need them.

It ought to be interesting to watch how this dance plays out.

And I’m not out drinking with the babes.

However I am told that if I were out drinking with the babes-I could watch Sarah Palin giving a speech to the retarded Tea Bagger faithful.

Certainly have better things to do than that!

However if I were watching-I could play this particular drinking game: Sarah Starburst Bingo!

Every time you fill a square-take a drink.

While you are drinking-check out what my Canadian counterpart has to say: Rahm Emanuel was right!

Warning notice! This is a Navy focused post.

An event this week has me waxing nostalgic that I was lucky enough to have served during the supposedly barbaric era of the 70′s and 80′s when the Navy was predominately male, a lot of fun to serve in, and focused on things like actual warfighting at sea.

Instead of being a “global force for good enough”.

The thing that set me off was this announcement.

Rear Adm. Nora Tyson has been assigned as the next commander of the Norfolk, Va.,-based Carrier Strike Group 2, which includes the carrier George H.W. Bush, according to an announcement from the Pentagon. Lt. Justin Cole, a Navy spokesman, said Tyson would be the first woman to command a carrier strike group in Navy history.

Tyson will move from her current assignment as commander of the Western Pacific Logistics Group when her orders are issued in the early summer, Cole said.

Now before one goes all high order and throws out the “M” word against me for the umpteenth time-I would strongly encourage you to take a hard look at Admiral Tyson’s biography. I defy you to find the word “carrier aviator” anywhere in it.

Because you won’t. She grew up in the TACAMO community-who, to date, have produced no male flags, but have produced two women admirals in less than three years.

Now I was in WESTPAC at the same time Admiral Tyson was COMLOGWESTPAC and by all accounts she did a credible job. But to give her a strike group?

Hell, even Tony Winns didn’t get one of those-and he has at least as many diversity points to play, if not more. But then, he’s male-and a P-3 guy.

Now its clear that some would see this criticism as trying to attack her on the basis of being female-but that’s just not it.

It is to me- a clear cut announcement by the Navy-that the wickets that were once de rigeur are no longer required.  Because the Navy is in a hurry. A hurry to prove what, I’m not quite sure. In  hurry to have a woman command a Carrier Strike Group perhaps? It is not like there are not women carrier aviators who are coming up through the ranks who will not one day be ready to accomplish that same objective-with at least some traps under their belt.

And before someone points it out-yes there are surface officers who have commanded strike groups, but they at least commanded a cruiser or a DESRON in the strike group. Its very rare-in fact almost unheard of-to see an officer jump from an amphibious ship major command to CSG command. Without at least being a carrier aviator to start with.

Because in the end its not about her talent-but the credibility she will bring to her position.

Zero point Zero.

Which leads to my sea story. A long time ago and in a galaxy far away, a certain multi-engine carrier based aircraft community was in a hurry to show that it could have a female squadron CO. And so, when the selection board time came around-the combat exclusion law having been overturned by a petulant Congress-a female was selected.

(The issue is at Tailhook was not that we took a few liberties with our female party guests. We did. Wink ).

There was only one problem with this woman’s selection-and every male in a certain carrier aviation community knew what it was:

She had never done a department head tour.

She had, however, been a flag aide-to a future CNO. So certainly, she’s qualified to command a squadron right?

Well-not quite. Completion of a department head tour with a number 1 ranking is essential-even in those days. To not have even done one at all was more than an oversight-it was a sign of blatant discrimination.

And every male in the year groups before and after her year group knew it and were screaming bloody murder about it. So much so that, the powers that be sensed a potential black eye in the making for the Navy and this carrier aviation community.

So it was decided that this person must complete a department head tour-in the very same squadron she was slated to command some day. Not without leaving the squadron and coming back to it at a later time to be determined-but within a year and a half of arriving at said squadron and staying in it the whole time.

This is-well how shall I put it-more than a little odd. Plus-since she was still a LCDR, but already screened for command, it guaranteed that no one else could have that coveted number one fitness report till she actually promoted to Commander.

Yea, there’s a real incentive to work with her.

Nonetheless off she went, did a year as maintenance officer, a year as XO then fleeted up to CO. Her assumption of command was hailed with much pomp and circumstance, pictures and headlines all over the place. At the time I was serving as the wing chief of staff-working for the guy who wrote her fitness reports.

And hearing the phrase, “get that bitch on the phone“-more than a couple of dozen times from my boss. ( Who in my opinion was a great leader, who had gotten his position the old fashioned way-he earned it.).

You see, this particular female had learned an important lesson on the way up. Getting along with your contemporaries was for suckers. Placating important and highly placed sponsors was how you advanced. And so she ignored her boss who was merely just another male Captain.

Her reward for a job passably done-selection to a fleet staff air operations officer position. Now as most folks who have been around the block in the Navy will tell you-this particular job requires an in depth knowledge of strike warfare. And its not something you can pick up in just a couple of weeks no matter how hard you work or study.

And, as the poor staff officers, who were condemned to work for her in this period can attest to-since they had to do all the work to make up for what she did not know.

All because the Navy was in a hurry.

The moral of the story here is that sometimes it is not so good to be in a hurry. The Navy has bright, female pilots who are earning their qualifications as carrier aviation pilots and one or two of whom will make flag one day. They will have gotten their promotions the same way their male counterparts did-the old fashioned away.

The same way-the exact same way-their male predecessors did.

And they will have earned the same respect their male counterparts did.

Isn’t that worth waiting for? And isn’t it what the whole idea was when the feminists started us down this crazy path?  ”To just be treated the same as the men“.

Except when its not fast enough to gather good headlines I guess.

And that-boys and girls- is to the Navy’s loss.

Which basically-with the exception of 10 glorious days spent last year overseas-can describe my existence since returning to Shopping Mall USA.

You want a prediction about the weather-and the state of my existence? Bill Murray has one for you:

And that is putting it mildly. This has to be my year of change. Change of location-and all that it implies.

Change of situation-and all that THAT implies.

Change of mindset-and the hope and optimism that THAT implies.

Cause I’ve seen the shadow-and I can’t deal with six more years weeks of this dreaded half empty existence in the shell that is life in the United States of Argument.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” -Albert Einstein.

Time to turn to!

At least if you live in Australia.

Talk about intrusive government-the Australian government is now dictating the boob size of the porn stars you watch. Or as FG put it, “No Japanese Titties please, we’re Australian!”.

Clearly these guys don’t understand the “total package theory”.

Can’t they just use the fuzzy blue dot?

Perahps this would be more to their liking? ( TOTALLY NSFW!)