Laid down in the midwest at the American Ship Building Company of Lorain, Ohio, on 2 May 1966, she commissioned 7 October 1968– the same year as the Tet Offensive.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast side-launched at the American Shipbuilding Company, Lorain 1967
Following an extensive refit in 1994 that aimed to add another 20-25 years to her service, she made it an additional 30 and was just decommissioned over the weekend.
The crew aboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast (WMEC-623) stands in formation on the ship’s flight deck while underway off the coast of Central America Memorial Day, 2022. An embarked MH-65 Dolphin helicopter detachment crew from Air Station Port Angeles hovered overhead for the photo in recognition of the day of remembrance. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Brad O’Brien)
Originally home-ported in St. Petersburg, Florida for her first 24 years, she shifted to Astoria, Oregon for the second half of her career.
The service put her to bed on Saturday.
Five prior Commanding Officers of USCGC Steadfast (WMEC 623) attended the ceremony over the weekend
Since commissioning in 1968, she has completed over 340 Search and Rescue cases, interdicted over 1.6 million pounds of marijuana and 164,000 pounds of cocaine, seized over 80 vessels, and stopped over 3,500 undocumented migrants from entering the United States. Steadfast was the first and is one of only two cutters, awarded the gold marijuana leaf, symbolizing one million pounds of marijuana seized. Legend holds Steadfast was named “El Tiburon Blanco” (Spanish for “The White Shark”) by Caribbean drug smugglers in the 1970s for being such a nemesis to their illegal drug operations. To this day, the crew uses the symbol of “El Tiburon Blanco” as one of their logos to epitomize Steadfast’s assertive law enforcement posture.
Steadfast is a multi-mission platform and is under the Operational Command of the Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander. As a Coast Guard resource, Steadfast deploys in support of Coast Guard Districts 11 and 13 as well as Joint Inter-Agency Task Force South (JIATF-S). During deployments, Steadfast patrols along the western seaboard of the United States, Mexico, and North and Central America conducting search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, living marine resource protection, and Homeland Defense operations.
In her years of service, Steadfast has been awarded the Coast Guard Special Operations Service Ribbons for Campaign Caper Focus and for Operation Martillo, 8 Coast Guard Excellence Ribbons, 5 Coast Guard Unit Commendation Awards, and 4 Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendations. In July 2019, Steadfast broke the record for the most cocaine seized during a single deployment among all 15 cutters of her same class and size.
In all, Steadfast served 55 years, 3 months, and 26 days. Not a bad run.
She is the fourth of 16 Reliance class cutters to get the ax, and will probably be sent overseas as military aid as two of her sisters have already been.
A view of the Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast at sunrise off the coast of San Diego, California., Dec. 2, 2019. The crew of the Steadfast was transiting north to their homeport of Astoria, Oregon, following a 60-day patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Jonathan O’Connor.)
Ensign Schuyler F. Heim and other members of the landing party from the South Carolina-class battleship USS Michigan (BB-27) preparing to disembark, on 22 April 1914, at Vera Cruz. Their whites are made khaki through the use of coffee grounds. NHHC NH 100612
The Battleship New Jersey Museum just found the ship’s organization book from 1956 and posted a great video detailing the landing party bill.
Of note, the Korean War-era landing party 201-man rifle company (6 officers, 195 enlisted), was commanded by the Marine detachment’s skipper (a captain) and made up of a platoon of 36 Marines (presumably led by a Marine LT) then fleshed out by 165 bluejackets organized into a company HQ section (commanded by a second Marine LT), a 2nd and 3rd infantry platoon, and a machine gun platoon. The senior Navy officer would be a LtJG who would act as the company executive officer while the company’s First SGT would be a Marine MSgt and the company Gunnery Sergent would be a PO1, likely GM1.
Inspecting USS New Jersey’s Marine detachment, 1944. Of note, this was one of the first Marine Detachments to hit the fleet with M1 Garands. Catalog #: 80-G-82699
Armament included 154 M1 Garands, 20 M1911 sidearms, a whopping 27 M1918 BARs, and 6 light machine guns (probably M1919s).
The three infantry platoons (at least in the case of the two Navy-staffed platoons) would be further divided into 9 four-man fire teams, each with a team leader (M1), rifleman (M1), BAR gunner (M1918) and assistant BAR gunner (M1), combined into three squads each with an additional squad leader, with the whole thing led by a platoon leader, for 40 men per platoon. No platoon Sgt/CPO, and no HMs or commo at the platoon level. Hey, it was 1956…
Anyway, good stuff, and a quick explanation of why a Cold War-era Marine Det on a battleship or cruiser included a captain and two lieutenants for a platoon-sized element.
The last Marine Carrier Dets, useful shipboard for guarding admirals, performing TRAP missions, and keeping an eye on “special munitions” (aka nukes) were disbanded in 1998.
How about this amazing early color photo (possibly an Autochrome Lumière) showing the combat-tattered banner of the French army’s 37e Régiment D’Infanterie (37e RI) shown resting on two stacks of bayonets atop Lebel 1886/15 rifles, likely late in the Great War. Note the famed “horizon blue” uniform of the Croix de Guerre-wearing Poilu, shown complete with an Adrian Adrian-style steel helmet. You can make out, under the Honneur et Patrie (“Honour and Fatherland”) motto, and battle honors for Zurich, Polotsk, and Alger.
With a lineage traced to 1587, the 37e RI picked up its number designation in 1790 while at Valogne under Col. Joachim Robin de Blair de Fressineaux (along with the honor of being named for Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, Maréchal de Turenne).
It soon earned two battle honors in the Napoleonic Wars (“Zurich 1799” and “Polotsk 1812”) although it fought notably in no less than 24 large battles from Vauban to Ligny. Post-Napolean, the 37th fought in Algeria (earning “Alger 1830” battle honor), as well as during the 1859 Italian campaign, and at Sedan during the 1870 war with Prussia.
Starting the Great War at Nancy with the 11th Infantry Division, the 37th was repeatedly bled white over the next four years, earning four battle honors (Lorraine 1914, Flanders 1914, Verdun 1916, and Champagne 1918) while sending no less than 6,155 of its members to the scrolls of its honored dead– more than twice the regiment’s 2,722-man wartime authorization!
It ended the war on occupation duty in Frankfurt.
The 37th, in keeping with French interbellum doctrine, was redesignated a fortress infantry unit in the 1930s and staffed the Maginot Line at Rohrbach.
When the Germans came again in 1940, the 37th held the line until its until it was compromised then mounted a fighting retreat to Val-et-Chatillon, suffering over 1,000 casualties in the process. There, its survivors burned its cherished regimental colors on orders of Lt. Col. Combet on 25 June, rather than surrender them to “The Boche,” capping 150 years of solid service to the empire and republic.
Post WWII, the 37th would be reformed a few different times as “public works” (bataillon d’ouvrages) and reserve battalions, but never again as a line infantry regiment.
The regimental motto was “Vaincre ou mourir” (Win or die)
I thought this was one of the nicest guns at SHOT last week.
Beretta came to Las Vegas with something that any Selachimorphaphile, single-action handgun purist, model 92 fan, or budding USPSA competitor is sure to find of interest: the 92XI Squalo.
The Squalo – “shark” in Italian – earned its name, says Beretta, due to the “sleek and formidable nature” of the animal and its namesake 9mm pistol’s inclination to “stand out in a sea of competition.”
Optics-ready with a Vertec-style frame and DLC-coated trigger internals, it has a single-action-only trigger with a manual frame-mounted safety lever. A gray overall finish and custom Hogue G10 grip panels help pull off the moniker.
It comes standard with a Toni Systems flared magwell and has superb texture on the grip, akin to that of a shark’s skin, one could say.
Meanwhile, at the show itself, Beretta had an example decked out with gold accents and a comp, the latter giving it a very “Professional” kind of vibe
Resplendent in her disruptive camouflage, the Royal Navy’s Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel, HMS Tamar (P-233),recently arrived for a visit to the remote Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands. The sole remaining British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean, some of the islands’ population of fewer than 50 people can trace roots to the mutineers of HM Armed Vessel Bounty, which they burned there in what is now known as “Bounty Bay” in 1790.
It made for great imagery, and you can see why the men of the Bounty chose the place to settle.
The Rivers, designed for maritime constabulary roles such as conducting anti-piracy, counter-terrorism, and anti-smuggling tasks– allowing more capable destroyers and frigates to be retasked– have been busy showing the flag in remote parts of the world. The class consists of the three first 1,700-ton/260-foot flight Batch I vessels (Tyne, Severn, and Mersey) and five larger and improved 2,000-ton/296-foot Batch 2 vessels (Forth, Medway, Trent, Tamar, and Spey).
With small (28 in Batch 1, 45 in Batch 2) crews, their main armament is slight, being a simple 20mm/30mm forward and a few pintle-mounted .50 cals and GPMGs. The Batch 2s also have the ability to embark a Merlin/HH-60-sized helicopter (although not hangar it), UUV and UAV dets, and a platoon-sized element of Royal Marines.
In my opinion, this (or the RCN’s Kingston class MCDVs) would have been a better and far cheaper way for the U.S. Navy to go to scratch the LCS itch, putting all the money saved towards actual frigates, a role the LCS falls short of filling. For reference, a Batch 2 River costs about $175 million per hull, while the LCS runs $500-600 million. Oof.
The RN made sure to release images of Trent’s embarked Royal Marines at play, her .50 cals loaded with belts of ammo ready to go, and visiting Guyanan military personnel shown on the stern, framed by a pair of guns and the White Duster.
Subtle warning.
HMS Trent
Similarly, sistership HMS Forth (P222) is back on South Atlantic patrol after a yearlong refit. She is currently working with scientists in South Georgia, a Falkland Islands War battlefield studying bird flu there.
HMS Forth at East Cove with RRS Sir David Attenborough
Summer in South Georgia
South Georgia wildlife enjoying the summer with HMS Forth in the distance
Closing out related news for the class, check out this video of HMS Mersey, the third River to receive a WWII-style Western Approaches camo scheme during refit at Falmouth.
Customers placing a surplus ammo order through the CMP E-Store will not need to provide Form 2A (those individuals will check a box that states they are not a felon before completing their order). Customers that purchase surplus ammo in-person at our stores or at CMP events must provide Form 2A if they do not have one on file or if it’s expired.
We now have original West German .30-06 ammunition now available! This ammunition is post WWII 1960’s manufactured and has been in storage until now. This ammo was manufactured by MEN, Metallwerk Elisenhutte. The cartridges are berdan primed. This ammo is non corrosive. This ammo can be run in M1 Garands, 1903s, 1919s and more.
Please note that the rubber on these battlepack’s may be torn or ripped.
Photo I.D. required for purchase, please email a photo I.D. along with your order number to ffl@rtifirearms.com. Thank you for your business!
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The U.S. Army’s long-running comic-based PS Magazine is being snuffed out after a 72-year run. Its first issue was released in June 1951, during the Korean War in which the format was judged perfect to help young (and often newly drafted) GIs keep their gear and vehicles working.
Due to Headquarters Department of the Army (HQDA)-directed reductions of DA Civilian authorizations, PS Magazine will cease operations effective Sep 30, 2024. These reductions, among others across the Army, are necessary to right-size the total force, as well as support modernization.
PS Magazine’s transition to end of mission has already begun, and mission execution is reducing as its writing staff is reassigned or retires. Any residual support will cease operations no later than Sep 30. In the near term, this will affect the magazine’s ability to respond to Reader Inquiries, depending on the commodity or end item being inquired about. It will also mean a reduction in new content being posted to the website, with new articles all but ending this spring.
Efforts are being made to ensure the website remains available for reference for up to three years past end-of-mission. Once this website is fully retired, readers can continue to access the PS Magazine archive on the publicly available Radio Nerds website HERE.
On behalf of Connie, Bonnie, SFC Blade, Cloe and the other staff now retired, it’s been our distinct honor to serve Warfighters across all services for going on 73 years. You never know; perhaps someday we’ll be recalled to service. We’ll stand ready just in case.
For now, be safe, follow your TMs and always treat your vehicles and equipment as if your life depends on them. For surely, it will.
PS had some classic covers, many drawn by famed cartoonist and illustrator Will Eisner. He did Vol. 1, Issue 1.
PS June1951, vol 1, issue 1, cover by Wil Einser
Will Eisner Army Ordnance M3 sheet Grease gun smg
Joes Dope sheet tanks Army PM cartoon Will Eisner
PS 158, January1966. Cover art by Will Eisner.
Back cover from PS #198, May 1969. Art by Will Eisner
Flintstones war Front cover from PS #153, August 1965. Art by Will Eisner
Front cover from PS 120, November 1962. Art by Will Eisner
Warship Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024: One Hard Working Little Boat
Photograph FL 22144 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums
Above we see HM Submarine Untiring (P59), a small Group III U (Undine)-class boat underway, likely on trials in the Tyne in early 1943 as she doesn’t have her deck gun fitted. Launched some 81 years ago this month, her war was short, just under two years, but she made her presence known in the Med and would continue to serve in Greek waters well into the 1950s at which point she was the last of her class.
Coastwise submarines rushed into service as part of the War Emergency 1940 and 1941 programs, the U-class boats were dubbed “short hull” for a reason: their overall length was but 191 feet while submerged displacement was only 700 tons. Compare this to the Royal Navy’s T class (or Triton class) boats that preceded them, which ran 276 feet and displaced over 1,500 tons. Likewise, where the T-class carried 16 fish in 10 tubes as well as a 4-inch QF deck gun, the Undines had to make do with a much smaller “throw” of just 8 torpedoes in four bow tubes (no stern tubes) and a Q.F. 12-pdr. 3-inch/40 AAA gun augmented by a trio of .303 Vickers guns.
U class submarine
But make no mistake, while small and slow (10 knots max submerged, 11 on the surface) the Undines were deadly. Plus, with a periscope depth of just 12 feet under the surface and a draft while surfaced of just over 14 feet, they were shallow water submarines and proved quite useful in littoral taskings such as landing agents and commandos as well as doing beach and harbor reconnaissance.
Meet Untiring
Simple vessels able to be produced rapidly and in large numbers, most Undines were completed in about a year from keel laying to commissioning. The only Royal Navy warship to bear the name “Untiring,” she was laid down at Vickers Armstrong, Newcastle upon Tyne, on 23 December 1941, launched on 20 January 1943, and commissioned on 9 June 1943.
Her first skipper was LT Robert Boyd, DSC, RN, who had earned the Distinguished Service Cross after serving almost two years under CDR E.D Cayley (DSO and three bars) on Untiring’s sistership, HMS/m Utmost (N 19) earlier in the war and had gone on to command the older submarines HMS/m L-23 and HMS/m H-43 between November 1942 and February 1943.
After completing trials in the Tyne estuary and exercises off Blyth, Untiring set off for Holy Loch in July 1943 to join the 6th Flotilla for torpedo and noise trials along with A/S and attack exercises.
War!
By 23 August, Untiring left Lerwick on her 1st War Patrol, ordered to look for German U-boats in the Norwegian Sea. Four days later she sank the Norwegian halibut trawler M-96-G /Havbris I with gunfire about 50 miles off the Norwegian coast, putting the boat’s 7-man crew ashore in the Shetlands when she returned to Lerwick on 5 September.
Her 2nd War Patrol was to sweep through the Bay of Biscay then head to Gibraltar, where she arrived on 3 October, bound for service in the Med.
Leaving “The Rock” a week later for her 3rd Patrol off the coast of German-occupied southern France where she unsuccessfully attacked the German U-boat U-616 with four torpedoes off Toulon on 15 October, followed by an attack on two barges on 19 October and an unidentified escorted merchant vessel two days later– without any confirmed kills.
Headed out from Algiers (assigned to 8th Flotilla, HMS Maidstone) for her 4th War Patrol on 4 November, Untiring headed for the Italian Riviera. She put in at Malta (where she shifted to 10th Flotilla, HMS Talbot) on the 23rd having had no luck.
Her 5th War Patrol in December 1943 included sinking the German net layer Netztender 44/Prudente (396 GRT) inside Monaco harbor and surviving a six-hour duel off Cape da Noli with German UJ boats (auxiliary submarine chasers) and destroyers.
She sank the German barge F296 off the Sestri Levanto Lighthouse in early January 1944 during her 6th Patrol and added the barges FP 352/Jean Suzon and FP 358/St. Antoine later that month to her tally while on her 7th, surviving 14 depth charges dropped by escorts in the latter attack.
HMS Untiring, 1944, likely at Malta
While her 8th Patrol (14-26 February 1944 off southern France) yielded no joy, her 9th Patrol in April in the same waters saw her sink the German auxiliary minesweeper M 6022/Enseigne south of Cannes followed by the German merchant Diana (1454 GRT, ex-Greek Mairi Deftereou) south of Oneglia the next afternoon.
On her 10th Patrol, also conducted off Southern France, she zapped the German auxiliary submarine chaser UJ 6075 (ex-Clairvoyant) off Toulon on 27 April then was battered by no less than 82 depth charges dropped by her sister, with LT Boyd noting, “The first pattern had been unpleasantly close causing some minor damage.” Nonetheless, Untiring lived up to her name and proceeded three days later to torpedo and sink the German merchant Astrée (2147 GRT) off the Cape Bear Lighthouse.
Her 11th Patrol proved uneventful and, while she attacked a German UJ boat off Toulon on her 12th Patrol in early June, it was likewise fruitless. Not to be deterred, Boyd found UJ 6078/La Havraise (398 GRT) about 12 nautical miles southwest of La Ciotat on 10 June and sent the subchaser to the bottom.
Untiring’s 13th War Patrol in early July, also off Southern France, saw an unsuccessful attack on a German auxiliary patrol vessel. On this trip, she carried the COPP 2 (Combined Operations Pilotage Party 2) commando team– including an attached U.S. Marine colonel– set to conduct a reconnaissance of le de Port Cros to the east of Toulon on the eve of the upcoming Dragoon landings. As noted by COPP Survey, “They were who was originally to be taken close to shore by canoe. However, the mission got downgraded to a periscope-only reconnaissance.”
Her 14th Patrol, conducted in late July, involved, as U-boat.net says, a “special operation off north Corsica,” although Brooks Richards’s otherwise minutely detailed Secret Flotillas does not mention anything about Untiring during this period although sisters HMS Unbroken, Urge, and Utmost were well-documented as clandestine agent and spy runners in the Med by Richards.
Shifting to operations off Greece in October for her 15th War Patrol, Untiring fired fish at the German torpedo boat TA 18 (former Italian Solferino) off the Kassandra peninsula unsuccessfully on the 4th then settled for sinking an 80-ton Greek caique the next day via gunfire then duked it out with a pair of German UJ boats that responded.
Ordered back to Rothesay in late October for refit, she arrived there (joining the 7th Flotilla, HMS Cyclops) by way of Gibraltar in early December. There, LT Boyd left his boat for command of the HMS Otway (N 51). Untiring’s new skipper, LT George Edward Lynton Foster Edsell, RN, who had commanded the submarine HMS Proteus (N 29), would be her last British captain.
Post-War
Following the boat’s refit, which would last until 28 May 1945– some three weeks past VE-Day– Untiring was dispatched back to the Med and arrived at Piraeus, Greece in July after stops at Gibraltar and Malta.
There, at 1030 on 25 July 1945, Untiring was decommissioned by the Royal Navy and turned over to the Royal Hellenic Navy, being renamed first Amfitríti (Amphitrite) and then Xifias (Swordfish), joining five other U and V-boats loaned to the Greeks.
The six British boats would make up the post-war Greek submarine program, as shown by this 1946 Jane’s entry, including Untiring/Xifias.
Untiring was returned to the Brits in December 1953 (initially recommissioned under one Lt. C.A.J. French) and tasked for a few years as a floating schoolship for National Service midshipmen before she was sent to the bottom off the Devon Coast off Start Point in July 1957 for continued use as a sonar target. Ironically, in this last act, she fulfilled the class’s original intent, to serve as a training boat for ASW work.
The RN loaned several of the class to allies with three boats (Ursula/V1, Unbroken/V2, Unison/V3) going to the Soviets late in the war, two (P41/Uredd, and Varne/Ula) operated by the Free Norwegians, one (P47/Dolfijn) to the Dutch, and two to the Poles (P52/Dzik and Urchin/Sokol).
Of the 49 Undines completed during the war (at least five ordered boas were canceled), no less than 19 were lost through a variety of enemy actions, blue-on-blue incidents, and accidents– a ratio of more than one out of three.
The balance left post-war was not of a type the Admiralty wanted but their small size and simple nature– they were designed as training boats after all– made them ideal to supply to overseas allies who had lost their subs during the conflict. Meanwhile, the Brits quickly disposed of everything else.
Royal Navy U class submarines in Jane’s 1946 edition, noting that “most are expected to be discarded in the near future.”
The last of the class in active RN service, HMS/m Uther (P62), was sold for scrap in 1950, making Untiring the final Undine in British service when she returned in 1953.
The last holdout of the nearly 50 mighty British U-class boats, HNoMS Ula (P66), ex HMS/m Varne, continued in Norwegian service until 1965, when she was broken up, ironically, in Hamburg, having served just 23 years, most of them for King Haakon VII.
HNoMS Ula (P66), ex HMSm Varne in Norwegian service
Epilogue
Untiring’s first (and remarkably successful) skipper, Robert Boyd, added a DSO in 1944 to his circa 1942 DSC for his wartime exploits underway. Following the command of Otway as mentioned above, he would go on to become the “old man” on the cruiser HMS Frobisher and the submarine tender HMS Forth (A187) after the war. He retired on 10 June 1959 at the rank of captain, capping 22 years of service in the Royal Navy. Robert passed away in 1985 in Portugal.
Her last wartime British skipper, George Edward Lynton Foster, would go on to command the submarine HMS Vivid and leave the RN in 1950 as an LCDR after 12 years of service for a career in real estate in California.
The Royal Navy has not had a second Untiring on its navy list and I can find no monuments to her. As for her patrol reports and deck logs, they are in the National Archives at Kew.
As for her hulk, she is located at 177 feet in Bigbury Bay and is a popular, somewhat complicated due to her depth, recreational dive.
Ships are more than steel and wood And heart of burning coal, For those who sail upon them know That some ships have a soul.
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Some 100 years ago today, “18.5-year-old” student Robert Anson Heinlein of Kansas City signed up for a three-year stint in the Missouri National Guard, taken on to the rolls of the 110th Engineers.
He was actually just 16, still a full half year before turning 17, but, a smart kid, he was already a senior at Kansas City Central High School, where he was a Cadet LTC in its JROTC unit.
Via the Missouri State Archives
Attending regular weekend drills and a summer camp, he quickly became a corporal.
Heinlein didn’t stop there.
After bombarding Missouri U.S. Sen. James Reed with more than 50 character reference letters urging an appointment to the Naval Academy while the youth was attending Kansas City Community College, Heinlein became a midshipman in June 1925, later being discharged from the Missouri Guard as a staff sergeant in 1928, just before earning his butter bar as a Navy ensign with the Class of ’29, ranked 20th of 243, and was soon in the fleet.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Throughout 46 novels and dozens of short stories, Robert Heinlein was always flanked by what he learned and remembered from his days as a young Soldier in an engineer unit with the Missouri National Guard, an Annapolis Mid, and as a young line officer in the fleet.
“Citizenship is an attitude, a state of mind, an emotional conviction that the whole is greater than the part…and that the part should be humbly proud to sacrifice itself that the whole may live.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
The recently reformed (and very understrength, with only six combat battalions/squadrons compared to 12 in the 82nd ABN) 11th Airborne Divison, now nicknamed the “Arctic Angels” due to their location in Alaska, recently got some snow on their wings with a little help from the Marines.
Official caption: “Soldiers assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division conducted jumps from a Marine Corps KC-130J Super Hercules during airborne operations at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The training was designed to ensure mission readiness in an Arctic environment.” Photos by Air Force Airman Raina Dale, and Senior Airman Julia Lebens.
Meanwhile, the COLA for Alaska is being reduced, because F the troops, especially the ones in pricy Alaska, particularly when the Army is tanking its recruitment and retention numbers, right?
This brings us to this, very valid, article:
U.S. Military Can’t Sustain Arctic Operations, ‘Let Alone Dominate,’ Experts Say
This over at The Warhorse:
“We don’t have the capability to sustain forces up there,” says Ryan Burke, an affiliate professor at University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Center for Arctic Security and Resilience. “We don’t have the infrastructure, we don’t have the know-how, we don’t have the institutional knowledge. We don’t have any of what we need to be present, let alone to actually dominate the damn thing.”
As interest in the region grows, the military has begun to make some changes. In 2022, Eielson Air Force Base, just over 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle, stood up a full complement of F-35s. Marine units now rotate through cold-weather training with their Norwegian counterparts, and during the past several years, U.S. forces have participated in trainings like Arctic Edge or Arctic Challenge, a Nordic-led joint military exercise. The military points to efforts like this as evidence of its commitment to Arctic operations.
But much of the necessary communication systems, general infrastructure, and sustained presence and training needed to understand and operate in such a complex environment has yet to materialize. The lofty visions promised in recent strategies don’t always match the realities on the ground.
“The Army has a strategy, the Navy has a strategy, the Air Force has a strategy,” Burke says. “Congratulations. We can’t do any of it.”
