There are some useful visualisations out on the intertubes, if anyone knows of any more, let me know and I will update the post
Click Here
Click Here
Click Here
H/T Lifehacker
Bridging in Afghanistan
CVR(T) Scimitar in Afghanistan with the Household Cavalry
Want that one!
There are some brilliant blogs out there and whilst I may not always agree with absolutely everything they write the quality in undeniable, wouldn’t the place be boring if everyone agreed anyway.
I try and read these every day.
In no particular order
Daly History Blog Where the past meets the present (sorry to nick you tagline James) is a diverse series of superbly researched articles on various historic and contemporary military related subjects
Defence and Freedom Sven blogs on various military issues, a European slant on issues with a strong bias towards strategy, threats and doctrine
Thinking Strategically Found his one today, explores foreign policy in the wider strategic context
Danger Room US focussed but good for technology related stories, amongst others
Bruxelles2 Can’t tell a word they are saying without translation but they have nice pictures!
Defence Viewpoints The blog for the UK Defence Forum
Rogue Gunner Thoughts of a Falklands Veteran with a focus on welfare issues
Jedibeeftrix Not sure about the name but some of the sharpest strategy analysis around
Aquila Victrix UK military news and views blog
Mental Crumble Random thoughts from Middle England
Kings of War From the faculty and research students at the Department of War Studies, Kings College London
EU Referendum An often controversial political blog with a wide subject coverage including various military issues
The Camo Side of Dominic Hyde All you can ever possibly want to know about camouflage
Information Dissemination The Intersection of Maritime Strategy and Strategic Communications, not sure what that means but essential, thought provoking, reading
ELP Defence Blog Interesting and challenging thoughts on US and Australian defence issues
New Wars Mike is a tireless and unabashed reformer, go and buy his book
SNAFU Sweary, forthright and belligerent but very very good
Helmand Blog The official MoD blog from the Joint Media Operations Centre in Camp Bastion accompanied by the various Flickr, Twitter and other resources from the Online Engagement Team, good stuff
And some other non blog sites I would like to highlight
Holidays4Heroes A non mainstream service community group that does incredibly good work, drop a few quid in the tin
Sgt Slingsby A fundraising initiative for Holidays4Heroes
Tony Williams Quite outrageously detailed and comprehensive site on guns and ammunition
The Sapper Shop With the rank and pay of a sapper
Is anyone fed up with the SDSR yet?
As the service three services and Civil Service PR machines spin up expect more news about disbanding the Red Arrows, cancelling the carriers, merging historic regiments and others. Funnily enough, I have not seen a great amount of joined up strategic thinking, apart of course, from bloggers like JBT. Most of the stories crawling out of the woodwork have an individual service slant, which is a shame because the last thing all three services need right now is dissent in the ranks, you would think that the divide and conquer rule would be well understood by now but it seems yet again, the Treasury will find it easy to exploit service tribalism and threaten sacred cow projects to elicit a response.
What is also notably absent is innovative thinking or originality.
Where is Percy Hobart when you need him!
Instead, all the bluff and bluster is platform centric; carriers, aircraft or armoured vehicles.
I think we all have low hopes for the SDSR, not because it is overdue or has potential to deliver but because it is about saving money, first and last. No doubt there will be lots of things that we can agree with but these will be sweeteners to make the medicine easier to swallow.
Let’s hope it surprises us all.
In the time between now and when it is published in October I have a list of subjects I am hoping to cover;
I am also trying to figure out how to put the solid mass of FDR comments and posts into a coherent structure
If anyone has any suggestions for subject areas we should be covering, that’s what the comment system is for!
Plus of course, as ever, the door is always open so if anyone fancies a stab at writing for Think Defence just shout up.
Her Majesty The Queen has approved the appointment of General Sir Peter Wall as the new Chief of the General Staff
General Sir Peter Wall KCB CBE ADC Gen
General Sir Peter Wall (Late Corps of Royal Engineers) is currently Commander-in-Chief Land Forces.
Peter Wall was commissioned into the Royal Engineers (RE) in 1974 then read Engineering at Cambridge. His early service was spent in Belize and Rhodesia, in ‘Cold War’ Germany, as a platoon instructor at Sandhurst, and in Hong Kong.
He has commanded 9 Parachute Squadron RE, 32 Engineer Regiment in Hohne – including time in Bosnia, 16 Air Assault Brigade in the UK, the Joint Force Headquarters, and 1st (UK) Armoured Division in Iraq and Germany.
Staff posts have included Chief of Staff of 5 Airborne Brigade, a Military Adviser post in MOD, Project Manager in Abbey Wood, Chief of Staff of the UK National Contingent HQ for Op TELIC 1, and Deputy Chief of Joint Operations (Ops) in the Permanent Joint Headquarters.
In July 2009 he moved from Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations) in MOD to become Commander-in-Chief Land Forces in Wilton.
He is Chief Royal Engineer and president of Army rugby, Association Football, modern pentathlon and sport parachuting. Married to Fiona, they have two teenage sons, Alexander and Archie. He follows most sports and plays occasional games of golf and village cricket.
Hurrah
In an effort to spread the Think Defence dribblings far and wide you can now access it on the iPhone and other mobile devices.
All you need to do is simply access it from your device and it should automatically recognise you are browsing from a mobile device and format it appropriately.
I have tried it on an iPod and it seems to work fine so if anyone fancies testing it and let me know how it looks that would be rather excellent.
Just a few changes to the blog;
If anyone has any suggestions just let me know
This is a fascinating video that details the history of nuclear testing up to 1998
Watch it all the way through, it had me transfixed
Hat Tip: Information Dissemination
2000 images from the National Library of Scotland have been published on Flickr, including some from the private collection of Field Marshal Haig
Click here
Hat Tip - Cold War Warrior
Yesterday I mistakenly published some images I thought were from the MoD (HMS Ocean)
It turns out they belong to Brian Aitkenhead
Having looked through Brians Flickr photostream I have to say, they are some of the best naval images I have seen anywhere so have a pop over to Flickr to see for yourself.
The main Photstream is here
Thanks for letting me use them Brian and apologies for the mix up!
I thought I would pull out a comment from Nicholas in response to my wanting to slash and burn ceremonials, bands and display teams.
I must confess that I raised not one but two metaphorical eyebrows when I read your suggestion about scrapping ceremonial and the bands. The comment was even more surprising as you usually talk undiluted good sense.
I think that you should never forget the importance of national symbolism. One of the first things that Vaclav Havel did when he assumed power in Czechoslovakia was to restore national emblems to prominence. Such emblems are deeply engrained in the psyche of a nation. They become representative symbols worthy of veneration. Churchill realized that truth brilliantly well in the Second World War (remember the ravens at the Tower and many other examples?)
The Trooping of the Colour is deeply embedded in our nation’s consciousness. The British Army officer assisting the commentator said in his opening remarks, “This is an iconic, status of the nation kind of event” (or words to that effect) and his statement was so true. The morale of the British people, let alone that of the armed forces themselves, would be very badly affected by its removal. And anyway, how much would be saved by scrapping such ceremonial? Probably less that the cost of one Typhoon (£60 million, at the latest estimate). Furthermore, if the Guards regiments can manage to put on such a brilliant display after switching roles from war-fighting, wherein lies the problem? One battalion had only five weeks in which to prepare after returning from Afghanistan!
Just for clarification, I don’t want to scrap them completely but if I had a choice between an extra dozen live fire exercises, some proper spares holdings, enough body armour for everyone or a million and one other things then I chose them over ceremonial, bands and display team every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Winston Churchill addresses the House of Commons on June 6th 1944
I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning the first of the series of landings in force upon the European Continent has taken place. In this case the liberating assault fell upon the coast of France. An immense armada of upwards of 4,000 ships, together with several thousand smaller craft, crossed the Channel. Massed airborne landings have been successfully effected behind the enemy lines, and landings on the beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time. The fire of the shore batteries has been largely quelled. The obstacles that were constructed in the sea have not proved so difficult as we apprehended. The Anglo-American Allies are sustained by about 11,000 frontline aircraft, which can be drawn upon as may be needed for the purposes of the battle. I cannot, of course, commit myself to any particular details.
Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place. It involves tides, wind, waves, visibility, both from the air and from the sea standpoint, and the combined employment of land, air, and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen.
There are already hopes that actual tactical surprise has been attained, and we hope to furnish the enemy with a succession of surprises during the course of the fighting. The battle that has now begun will grow constantly in scale and in intensity for many weeks to come, and I shall not attempt to speculate upon its course. This I may say, however. Complete unity prevails throughout the Allied Armies. There is a brotherhood in arms between us and our friends of the United States. There is complete confidence in the supreme commander, General Eisenhower, and his lieutenants, and also in the commander of the Expeditionary Force, General Montgomery. The ardour and spirit of the troops, as I saw myself, embarking in these last few days was splendid to witness. Nothing that equipment, science or forethought could do has been neglected, and the whole process of opening this great new front will be pursued with the utmost resolution both by the commanders and by the United States and British Governments whom they serve.
I have been at the centres where the latest information is received, and I can state to the House that this operation is proceeding in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. Many dangers and difficulties which at this time last night appeared extremely formidable are behind us. The passage of the sea has been made with far less loss than we apprehended. The resistance of the batteries has been greatly weakened by the bombing of the Air Force, and the superior bombardment of our ships quickly reduced their fire to dimensions which did not affect the problem. The landings of the troops on a broad front, both British and American – Allied troops, I will not give lists of all the different nationalities they represent – but the landings along the whole front have been effective, and our troops have penetrated, in some cases, several miles inland. Lodgments exist on a broad front.
The outstanding feature has been the landings of the airborne troops, which were on a scale far larger than anything that has been seen so far in the world. These landings took place with extremely little loss and with great accuracy. Particular anxiety attached to them, because the conditions of light prevailing in the very limited period of the dawn – just before the dawn – the conditions of visibility made all the difference. Indeed, there might have been something happening at the last minute which would have prevent airborne troops from playing their part. A very great degree of risk had to be taken in respect of the weather.
But General Eisenhower’s courage is equal to all the necessary decisions that have to be taken in these extremely difficult and uncontrollable matters. The airborne troops are well established, and the landings and the follow-ups are all proceeding with much less loss – very much less – than we expected. Fighting is in progress at various points. We captured various bridges which were of importance, and which were not blown up. But all this, although a very valuable first step – a vital and essential first step – gives no indication of what may be the course of the battle in the next days and weeks, because the enemy will now probably endeavour to concentrate on this area, and in the event heavy fighting will soon begin and will continue without end, as we can push troops in and he can bring other troops up.
It is, therefore, a most serious time that we enter upon. Thank God, we enter upon it, with our great Allies all in good heart and all in good friendship.
Related posts
http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/06/d-day-before/
Having a dabble with the blog format over the weekend, normal service will resume shortly
Does anyone have any preferences on how posts are shown on the front page, in full or as a summary?
As an experiment in using the power of the web to harness everyones collective thinking I have set up a Wiki to cover the Future Defence Review.
The FDR series will continue on the Think Defence blog but if anyone wants to have a go at working together on creating a shadow FDR then pop over to Wikispaces, sign up for an account and get cracking.
Only those registered can make changes or participate in discussions but anyone can view it.
