The landscape of war is rapidly changing

Our Navy is in continuous combat in the Red sea and it’s not going well

We’re approaching the most dangerous geopolitical environment since WW2

Innovation is critical

This is your Defense Innovation Board
Does this give you confidence? For the record I like @MikeBloomberg and wish he won the 2020 democratic primary but Admiral Mullen was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 2007-2011 and shares serious responsibility for both failing in Afghanistan and deprioritizing shipbuilding. 2/4

In 1967, the Army picked 14 officers to critique the Vietnam War. 🧵 on David Hackworth's top 6 imperatives - from the military's most decorated soldier. It's shocking how many still resonate with the war in Afganistan & even today's US Navy challenges.

Which one resonates with you the most? 1) We have not required the government of SVN (GVN) to establish reforms. It remains a corrupt, inefficient, graft-ridden collection of divided opportunists who have little interest in the people of their country. As a result of these factors, the people have no interest in the GVN and are either actively supporting the VC or completely indifferent to the programs of the GVN. Without the active assistance of the people, an insurgent force cannot be defeated.

Life is a stage. Even at sea.

A sea story >> Long 🧵warning <<

We were poor not just because dad refused to do anything with his Cornell degree besides help poor people in the Bronx but because he purchased a truly dilapidated house we couldn’t afford in the best school district in America.

While my classmates in High School were sailing, golfing or horseback riding I was lifting drywall or crawling into the attic to staple insulation. It was painfully slow and sucked because we couldn’t afford any mistakes or the proper tools or material. Mistakes triggered Dad’s PTSD.

The school was difficult and Dad made me sign up for the hardest honors track classes. I shouldn’t have qualified but Dad was enormous - as his firehouse buddies would say “built like a brick shithouse” - and had the 1,000 yard stare from Vietnam that nobody said no to.

A few years before High School some rich guy donated a building to the school. A world class theater and classes for an elite performing art center.

Dad made sure I was accepted into this elite High School theater program, kinda like a charter school but I was the opposite of a theater kid, deeply embarrassed to be a nerd, so I refused.

Dad made me do it anyway. He said life is a stage and everyone must perform.

Nobody said no to dad. Not school administrators, not me.

I agreed because the backstage lights and audio and camera work intrigued me. Problem was the program was so well funded they didn’t need volunteers to manage the lights. I would have to perform.

So there I am in my salvation army clothes with bruises from construction surrounded by the confident children of investment bankers and diplomats, attending theatre classes in addition to AP classwork.

The good news, I found out, was they taught the “fundamentals” of performance art which means lots of warm up and confidence exercises. Modern dance too where everyone looks silly so I didn’t feel too embarrassed.

I also learned that I loved to sing. Problem was despite have teachers who made 4 times Dad’s salary so this program could “attract the best” they couldn’t fix my pitch regardless of how much I practiced.

Basically I sucked.

Fast forward a decade and I’m the Chief Mate, XO in Navy parlance, of a massive ship I wasn’t at all prepared to lead. Leadership isn’t about doing more yourself, it’s inspiring others to but most of the crew were boomers with decades at sea I was 24.

I did ok because Dad was right, life is a stage. Give an order with confidence and men will usually follow. Play the part of a Chief Mate, and generally you’ll be ok if you listen to your supervisors (our NCOs)

I could scrape by with hard work, go down and study a job before I ordered men to go do it, always stay a step ahead, read every manual twice, but when bad weather hits - when you are bruised and starving and haven’t slept for days - you just can’t work harder and the reality of your lack of experience is impossible to hide.

So we are in a bad storm that just wouldn’t give up. The type of storm where you stare at the waves and contemplate jumping in with heavy boots to end the misery. Everything was breaking and morale was at all time lows. Bad moral led to more mistakes and when a crane broke loose on deck we almost killed a guy.

At this point I’m angry and burst into the captain’s office demanding to know why he gave me this important job. He only shrugged his shoulders. Then he told me to go out to the bridge wing and yell at the top of my lungs to relieve the anger. He promised me nobody would be able to hear my breakdown because the wind was so strong.

So I did. I yelled and screamed and shook my fist. It was exhausting and not helpful at all. I broke down and sobbed. Cried like a baby.

Now one rule of leadership is you don’t cry like a baby in front of your men but I didn’t care. I wanted a demotion. So I walked right into the crew area still sobbing. To be honest I probably wanted sympathy too.

Nobody noticed. 1/4 The rain was so hard they assumed it my eyes were red from the rain slapping me in the face. I looked defeated but so did everyone. Bad storms do that to a crew. That’s why we were having near misses because nobody was noticing.

Everyone was exhausted. Everyone was angry. Everyone just wanted a hot cup of coffee and a good meal but the galley was closed because of the storm choosing between a can of Vienna sausage or soggy sandwiches wasn’t a choice, it was torture.

Then a tiny ember of warmth entered my gut. I noticed that nobody noticed my balling eyes. I noticed that nobody gave a damn. I could throw someone overboard and nobody would notice or care.

But I no longer wanted to murder someone for making me Chief Mate. I wanted to sing.

Sounds corny I know. Sounds idiotic. But it worked.

I headed back outside and did a full theatrical warm up routine. The breathing exercises, the modern dance poses, the “aahh ahh - eeehh eeehs” the I belted out singing.

I sung a half dozen songs culminating with The Door’s “Riders of the Storm”. I belted that shit out snd it sounded horrible but I did not care because nobody could hear. I could barely hear myself over the cacophony of the wind. Nobody noticed, nobody cared. It was just me and the angry sea.

Except they did notice. When I returned everyone looked at me weird. It was the nightmare I always had performing on stage. Every looking at you like you’re crazy.

They thought I was crazy because I was happy. Grinning ear to ear.

Then it got worse. 2/4

I have cried more times in public because of this man than any person alive. His name is Dave Yoho and he’s a dear friend.

He’s a 🧵 on why this photo is an Impossible Dream come true for Dave

https://twitter.com/michaelgwaltz/status/1798683706313564426

In 1944 Dave wanted to fight for freedom but he ran into a problem, he was only 16 years old.

But one service was desperate for volunteers because it suffered the highest percentage of casualties of any service.

Churchill argued that it was also the most important.

Some notes and questions from a former Army Watercraft warrant officer (CW4) regarding the Gaza pier sections that beached… 🧵

https://twitter.com/gcaptain/status/1794787913533943869

1. If the US Army had not sold off their 128 ft Large Ocean tugs, and had deployed these vessels to Gaza, the Large Tugs could have provided the towing and assistance required to keep these LCMS and barges from going ashore.

Earlier this year @michaelgwaltz proposed opening a @DOTMARAD desk at the White House. Sources tell me it was strongly opposed by the NSC.

MARAD ships move ammo to Israel

Here’s Maher Buthar, head of Defense Policy at the NSC, former president of the anti-semitic org SJC 🧵

https://twitter.com/joshrosner/status/1788543891882266666

The enemies of 🇺🇸 know the US Military is too strong and well trained to be defeated in battle.

To take us head on would be foolish but it’s simple to defeat the weakest link in our chain: US Merchant Marine logistics

So just for context this is a Ham Radio operator’s dream. Here’s a 🧵why:

During the solar storm the ham bands are nearly unusable because the sun’s electrical discharge overpowers radio wave. Not good for radio but…

https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1789133901991965067

Solar energy not only powers our planet but also energizes the upper atmosphere. After a storm, this energy can create a temporary ionized layer of “crust” around the Earth.

Dear Representative Huffman,

Every month, I step further right for one reason above all others:

I step right because I am an environmentalist.

I step right because I reject #Bidenomics and the Marxist social experiments that destroy our beautiful earth.

Let me explain🧵

https://twitter.com/RepHuffman/status/1785394621729706407

I step right because Lincoln, a Republican, shattered monoculture plantations, championed minority family farms, and enacted the Yosemite Grant Act.

Meet Jared Bernstein, Biden’s chief economic advisor:

✔️Art Degree, Manhattan School of Music
✔️ Mainstay on NYC jazz scene
✔️ Master of Social Work, Hunter College
✔️ Doctorate in Social Welfare from Columbia
✔️ Can’t answer a econ101 question 👇

ht @mylordbebo

Full boomer bio 👇
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Ber…

“Chamberlain, made it plain that even with loans it was entirely impossible to meet all (Churchill’s requirements for defense)” This is a🔥 🧵but I have a 🧵 to add

https://twitter.com/CalumDouglas1/status/1779554437331026093

Basically, the UK faced two choices in 1934:

Pay an absolute eye-watering amount for defense during a depression

Pray that given more time they could find solutions

(We will see later how this framing is off)

BREAKING: a senior official at the incident command center told @gCaptain that removal of the MV Dali has been delayed.

Ship removal timeline is unclear but unofficial estimates range from 3-5 weeks

Waiting on confirmation… 1/5 The salvage company in charge responded with “no comment”

The Incident response center said “The published timelines are what we know at this time“

A representative of the shipowner said “no comment”

2/5

BREAKING: A NY tugboat captain has reported to @gCaptain “container ship APL QINGDAO lost power while transiting New York harbor. They had 3 escort tugs but 3 more were needed to bring her under control. They regained power & were brought to anchor near the verrazano bridge” marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/sh…

China could have the Baltimore ship channel fully cleared in weeks but yesterday @POTUS said yesterday for the Army Corps of Engineers it will take months 🤦‍♂️

I blame the West Point Mafia and their budget demon. Please let me explain…

Truth is bridges are an Army Corps of Engineers responsibility but they are so unprepared they gave the job to Navy Salvage to lead. Navy salvage is so broken they had to outsource it to the US subsidiary/partner of a European firm which is chartering equipment from private companies at great expense. Equipment that’s weak & small compared to what the European parent has overseas.

And it’s the Army’s own fault. The West Point Mafia has systematically destroyed our nation’s maritime strength.

When I was 10 Vinzzini taught me the first lesson of war “You’ve fell victim to one of the classic blunders! Never get involved in a land war in Asia”

Yet in my adult life the United States fought not one but two wars in Asia.

How did we pay for those? By gutting our maritime capabilities.

With Chinese military capability growing exponentially, how do you win a war in Asia? The same way we did in WW2: with ships & marines with the Army and Air Force serving a support role

Except there is a problem, the current and last Secretaries of Defense are West Pointers. The SECDEF before that was a marine but he was forced out after a disagreement with the Secretary of State who was a West Pointer

Two decades of Land Wars in asia have decimated our Maritime capabilities as trillions was rerouted into Army coffers by the West Point mafia demon in DC

And now that the land wars are over is the Army Corps of Engineers helping rebuild shipyards and bridges? Is the Army rebuilding its once mighty fleet of dredges? Is it working jointly with the SeaBees and Merchant Marine? Is it rebuilding watercraft?

No today’s West Point mafia leader Jack Reed controls the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee & has blocked the Future of the Navy Commission That Congress created to develop a Naval rebuilding strategy

Now under General Lloyd Austin & Reed EVERY SINGLE navy shipbuilding project is delayed.

The West Point Mafia has gutted every Maritime service:

Navy National Guard (Naval Militia): now only a boat service in a small handful of states

United States Navy Armed Guard: gone

US Navy Reserve: zero ships in inventory

USCG Icebreaker fleet: down to one ship

US Navy salvage fleet: mostly gone

Seabees: cut to 7,000 active personnel

Merchant Marine: now less than 80 ships in international service

MARAD Ready Reserve Fleet: small & on average age a half century old

US Maritime Service: just a handful of officers at the US Merchant Marine academy

Marine Hospital Service; gone except the uniforms

NOAA Officer Corps: down to 330 officers

Army Corps of Engineers dredge fleet: includes ancient hulls like the 57-year-old dredge McFarland

Army Corps of Engineers salvage: the last SECDEF, @EsperDoD sold all Army salvage vessels in Baltimore

Army Watercraft: gutted by at action by Esper

USCG: forced to cut 10 cutters this year alone

I could go on but I have something more important to say:

🚨 NOW THEY ARE COMING FOR THE CARRIERS AND SUBMARINES🚨

(I will post the details of the carrier and sub delays in post 2 of the thread)

If Jack Reed & the West Point Mafia wins the next war in Asia will be lost.

Problem is there is nobody to stop them because the think tanks, defense contractors and DoD civil servants know who wields the power and nobody in Navy or Coast Guard uniform has the moral courage to ruin their career by calling out Jack Reed & General Austin in the media or during a senate hearing.

P.S. why am I using quotes from the Princess Bride & making light of the problem by creating the West Point Mafia Demon meme? Because it doesn’t require a PhD to see what is happening.

The gutting of every critical maritime capability to pour money into Land Wars is something any 10 year can see is idiotic. 🚨 Senator Jack Reed, Army General Austin and the WEST POINT MAFIA are now COMING FOR OUR CARRIERS AND SUBMARINES 🚨

They have already succeeded in cutting 14,700 sailors from the Navy next year and delayed the building of new carriers warships and submarines.

👇👇

https://twitter.com/paulmcleary/status/1775287808724226289

Hacking a ship like the Dali would be difficult but is not impossible.

A short 🧵on how to hack a ship

https://twitter.com/dgolden811/status/1775260559702655255

First we should explain why it’s difficult to do and why it’s unlikely the MV Dali was hacked.

It’s difficult because most bridge and engine control system are air gapped from the internet meaning not directly connected.

CMA, arguably the most important annual shipping conference in the USA, is just outside NYC this week and for the first time ever I'm absolutely dreading it.

Here are the top 10 reasons why 🧵

cmashippingevent.com/en/attend/why-… 1) The bad takes on the situation in the Red Sea are going to be unreal. The shipping industry does not understand naval combat operations and instead of inviting naval experts they will be having "maritime security" experts trained in piracy.

It looks like the crew laid down a blanket of firefighting foam. Unfortunately the ship looks like she’s listing slightly to starboard so the foam is running down the side.

Foam is difficult to use. 🧵

https://twitter.com/auroraintel/status/1751040254214017345

Ships crew practice during firefighting training but that’s in idea situations. For obvious reasons very few crews have the opportunity to practice in real fires.

The basic STCW training class has a minimal requirement of 16-hours of firefighting training every 5 years

The fear mongers aren’t even bothering to pick good ship disaster photos.

Here’s a 🧵some of the best via @gCaptain

https://twitter.com/lovemylife81/status/1746925017873478114

M/V Hyundai Fortune, Gulf of Aden 2006: gcaptain.com/incident-photo…

I’m a merchant ship Captain who runs a large news company for commercial shipping.

Five years ago I had zero interest in Naval or military affairs but this guy @mercoglianos just kept calling me telling me shipping is in BIG trouble if the US Navy keeps ignoring the concerns of the security shipping industry.

I’ll be completely honest, I ignored him for years. We had the strongest Navy on earth, and nobody was close. How could this be that big of a concern?

I wasn’t completely oblivious. I’ve listened to @cdrsalamander’s podcast every week for over a decade. He gave similar warnings.

I even wrote early articles about China’s islands building campaigns and the US Merchant Marines’s aging sealift fleet. But those were mostly isolated concerns.

But Sal did not stop calling. Slowly I started putting in a heavy amount of work into naval and military research… and unfortunately I found that Sal was 🎯

It’s estimated the department of defense will spend over $1.7 trillion this year but, apart from some @MSCSealiftjob ads (which I am eternally grateful for) not a penny of that is going into my business.

My business makes money by focusing on commercial shipping concerns but I began to realize tsunami was about to capsize the industry. That tsunami would land at the crossroads of shipping and naval affairs.

So that’s where I have focused my efforts these past few years.

Why? A few reasons

1) Sal became a close friend and I enjoy working with him on hard problems

2) Sal is smarter than me, and much better informed on the topic.

3) it’s in impossible problem and extremely complicated problem to solve.

4) I tried, but failed to find anyone willing to work full-time on the project with Sal.

5) We failed to convince most people that this days was coming but the best and the brightest naval and military minds - people like @brentdsadler @NextNavy @JerryHendrixII @Admiral_Foggo @stavridisj @Lazarus_Navy @HunterStires @GordianKnotRay @cgberube @WWATMD @naval_gazing @salisbot @SebastianBae @CTReese2 @MAGTravF @ElbridgeColby @JoshuaSteinman @MaritimeAmerica @TrentTelenko @TPLevine85 @BDHerzinger - intellectual giants slowly started seeing what we were seeing and encouraged us to push on.

Some like @brentdsadler @JerryHendrixII started working with us on the issue! We even found a few like @GordianKnotRay @SobinNeil working on the same problems independently.

This was important confirmation that we were not wasting the only resource that truly matters.

6) I honestly could not think of anything more important to world, peace, and security than this project. Billions of people have been lifted from poverty from low cost and efficient shipping. Without it those people will starve and the world will slide back into the dark ages.

So I went all in.

Fortunately, for us - but unfortunately, for the rest of the world - this week’s ship attacks in the Red Sea are confirmation that @mercoglianos predictions and concerns were bullseye accurate.

But there is still a lot of work to do. we have an extremely powerful and connected network that is gaining enormous traction in policy circles and online but the large majority ( well over 99%) of both the public and policy influencers still think we are overreacting.

Despite the thousands of pages and hours of video @mercoglianos has documented still nobody like Peter Thiel is writing him a check to fix these problems.

But that’s OK because it is coming. Coming quick.

Why am I writing all of this??

Because what Peter Thiel says below is 100% accurate. Despite the fact that the prom we are working on, could lead to massive famine, energy, shortages, and even world war. Even though the majority of my own shipping community and the defense industrial complex still think we far out in left field with our concerns. Despite all of this, I go to bed each night with deep satisfaction that my efforts are making a difference. /1 This is all a distraction for my company, which profits when I focus on shipping - not naval - matters but I am confident that profits will follow hard work and - most importantly - I go to bed each night with a DEEP sense of satisfaction.

The key to life is:

Take close care of family then work hard on the most difficult problem you can find.

P.S. this is not my first rodeo. I I saw out the most difficult problems in the Maritime. We’re all when I was a captain and Macke gave me the taste of satisfaction.

Then - after the deep water horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico - every single person told me that understand the story was too complicated a problem to solve.

But Tom Shroder - former editor of the Washington Post magazine - Told me we could do it by focusing on the people who had stories to tell.

And he was right.

The book led to serious changes within the industry, reviews I am extremely proud of, bestselling status, and is still taught in some of the top colleges in the station.

None of this is to brag . It is instruction on how to live a fulfilling and consequential life.

Go find the hardest problem you can find and the smartest person working on it. Help them succeed and follow their lead.

It’s as much about the person as it is the problem.

Do you want to make a real positive difference in this world go find your Dr. Sal @mercoglianos and work hard to lend them a hand.

Red Sea attack watchers listen up!

Shipping experts do NOT understand naval operations.

Naval experts do NOT understand shipping.

Twitter “experts” have no clue about either.

If you want facts you MUST follow people who understand both.

🧵 Here are people to follow:

@mercoglianos has deep and understanding of both shipping and the military. His PhD was on the intersection of these.

He is THE best source bar none

ADM Franchetti opens her Senate confirmation hearing with her top 3 priorities:

1) Sharpen the warfighting edge
2) Strengthen our Navy team
3) Fortify the foundation

I'm calling it: this will be another waste of four years we can't afford. Here's why🧵

armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/to-co… In this thread, I will explain why each of the Admiral's priorities are weak and offer a PLUS alternative.

Grandpa said Dad died in 2000 to open the gates of heaven for his FDNY brothers

I don’t know if that’s true. What I do know is the Vietnam War, the burning of the Bronx, cancer from toxic smoke, and 9/11 decimated his generation of working-class NYC firefighters. A🧵about love I’ll never have the opportunity to win two Bronze Stars

I’ll never teach myself plastic surgery to stitch up wounded soldiers

I’ll never land in a hot LZ

I’ll never graduate an Ivy League school

I’ll never dangle from the end of the rope and catch a man jumping from flames.