Category Archives: U.S. Marine Corps

Odyssey Dawn

NATO’s Maritime Strategy and the Libya Crisis as Seen from the Sea

The following is a paper from the NATO Defense College Rome, published in March, 2013.
From the report:

In case you did not know, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has an Alliance Maritime Strategy (AMS). The document, approved on 05 January 2011, was the first of its kind in over a quarter of a century. In spite of this post-Cold War milestone, however, the strategy was endor- sed by the member states with little fanfare. Since its declassification in March of the same year, it has been quietly buried in the NATO official website, largely out of sight from the popular media and (by extension) from the European and North American populace whose security and prosperity it is ostensibly designed to safeguard.2 The average person on the street (or, perhaps more aptly expressed in this context, on the sea- front) should therefore be forgiven if he or she has never heard of, let alone read, a dedicated maritime strategy for the Atlantic Alliance in the 21st century. But exist it does. Read More

DoD Photo

CBO Report on DoD Reductions

From the March Congressional Budget Office report on Pentagon spending cuts: In 2013, the Department of Defense (DoD) faces an 11 percent reduction (after adjusting for inflation) in its base budget from the amount it received in 2012. (The base budget funds the department’s normal activi- ties but excludes overseas military operations like those in Afghanistan.) Under current law, the department’s bud- gets will increase by a cumulative total of 2 percent more than inflation between 2013 and 2021, still well below its funding in 2012 in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. Those limits are mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), which capped annual funding for defense and nondefense agencies during that period. Read More

The Military Sealift Command mobile landing platform ship USNS Montford Point (T-MLP 1) is floated out of General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard on Nov. 12, 2012. US Navy Photo

First MLP Passes Builder’s Trials

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The Military Sealift Command mobile landing platform ship USNS Montford Point (T-MLP 1) is floated out of General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard on Nov. 12, 2012. US Navy Photo

The Military Sealift Command mobile landing platform ship USNS Montford Point (T-MLP 1) is floated out of General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard on Nov. 12, 2012. US Navy Photo

A key component of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps new sea basing strategy has completed its first round of sea trials, Naval Sea Systems Command officials told USNI News on Monday. Read More

USNS Spearhead (JHSV-1), the first of 10 Navy joint high-speed vessels designed for rapid intra-theater transport of troops and military equipment during builders trials. US Navy Photo

Low Cost Ship Options for U.S. Navy’s Drug War

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HSV-2 Swift  departs from Naval Station Mayport to begin Southern Partnership Station 2013. US Navy Photo

HSV-2 Swift departs from Naval Station Mayport to begin Southern Partnership Station 2013. US Navy Photo

The U.S. Navy is examining low-cost high-speed ships to replace aging surface ships in U.S. Southern Command’s fight against drug traffickers, U.S. 4th Fleet officials told USNI News on Tuesday. Read More

Brig. Gen. James W. Lukeman, 2nd Marine Division commanding general, at a Tuesday press conference at Camp Lejeune.

Mortar Malfunction Blamed for 7 Marine Deaths

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Brig. Gen. James W. Lukeman, 2nd Marine Division commanding general, at a Tuesday press conference at Camp Lejeune.

Brig. Gen. James W. Lukeman, 2nd Marine Division commanding general, at a Tuesday press conference at Camp Lejeune.

A 60mm mortar malfunction is being blamed for the Monday death of seven North Carolina Marines killed at a Nevada training ground, Marine leaders said on Tuesday. Read More