WEBVTT 1 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:33.799 Welcome to mid Rats with sal from Commander Salamander and the Eagle One from Eagle 2 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.600 Speak at Sea or shore your home for a discussion of national security issues in 3 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:44.399 all things maritime, and welcome board everybody. We're glad to have you with 4 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.039 us, and if you are with us live, I'd like to go ahead 5 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:52.039 and extend the usual altar call. You can scroll down to the bottom of 6 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:55.320 the show page. That's where you will find the chat room. While we're 7 00:00:55.320 --> 00:01:00.600 alive, We've already got Lee in there. He's already got his got his 8 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:03.319 feathers all ruffled. So that is a great place during the course of the 9 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:07.560 next hour where if you have some topics you would like for us to discuss. 10 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:12.599 We're always looking for great ideas to talk about. We already have bounced 11 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:18.000 a few things around in the pre show for the stay's Melee format, which 12 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:19.760 is also exciting. If you're with us live, you can look up at 13 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:25.159 the top for the show page. That's where you will see the studio line. 14 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:29.560 If you wanted to call into the switchboard and give us what for are 15 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:33.079 basically asking us a topic you would like for us to chat about, where 16 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:38.000 we are more than likely to want to do that. So welcome to the 17 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:42.000 summer doldrums. Kickback, relax and try not to sweat too much. As 18 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:48.200 I said under the air conditioning eagle, one happy Sunday to you, oh, 19 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:52.400 thank you, sill and back to you, well, thank you very 20 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.560 much. I guess one of the things we can kind of kick off because 21 00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:05.599 you are an illustrious US Naval Reserve captain retired and there was a fair bit 22 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:12.800 of a right after the NATO's summit. The White House just isn'tly put an 23 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:19.919 auto transmit. I think a little announcement recalling are getting the authorization if so 24 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:24.960 desired to recall three thousand reservists, and I think we got everybody is excited. 25 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:29.400 Is they use the formula out of US Code and said, of which 26 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:35.520 only I believe it's four hundred and fifty could be individual ready reserve for service 27 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:42.120 basically. And I think I called Atlantic Resolve, which is supporting the build 28 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:49.400 up and distribution of not forces, but funds and equipment to the Ukrainians, 29 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:55.280 and doc got everybody a little bit excited. But I think what we probably 30 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:04.080 have here is somebody in the PR and the paperworkshop. From what I've been 31 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:09.400 able to gather from chatting with a few people. This isn't something anybody should 32 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:14.680 really quote worry about, or it's an indicator or something larger. It was 33 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:20.599 just a bureaucracy pushing something out it needed to push out without thinking about the 34 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:28.560 larger context and timing and how that messaging would go. It was some awkward 35 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:32.240 timing, but it might be a good You are a resident expert at least 36 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:38.120 on how the naval Reserve operates for the listeners, it might not be as 37 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:42.680 familiar with it. Now, what is that difference as far as recalling goes 38 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:49.639 between a cell REZ and an ir R, and how at least on the 39 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:53.280 Navy side of the house, you might get pulled into do things that aren't 40 00:03:53.360 --> 00:04:00.800 quite navy like. Yeah, independent, the IRR is the individual ready reserve. 41 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:08.400 There are people who probably have completed their mandatory or obligated service, both 42 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:11.800 active and reserve. I think many of us had to spend at least four 43 00:04:11.879 --> 00:04:16.279 years unactive and X number of years for so years in reserves before we were 44 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:21.120 completely free of a reserve obligation if we went that route. So you can 45 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:27.600 end up with weird situations where these these they're supposed to call them once or 46 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:32.000 twice every now and then once or twice or every now and then and inspect 47 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:35.120 them to make sure they're they have their full sea bag and all that stuff. 48 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:39.959 But there they are people who are who are not getting paid. They're 49 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.120 just they're just members of the naval Reserve that are kind of off on their 50 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:48.000 own, and every now and then something comes up with that. Some of 51 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:53.360 them will volunteer or get called up for something. Uh. The other this 52 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:58.000 select reserve are paid folks. So those are the folks that when they go 53 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:00.439 in for one week in a month and two weeks year, they get paid 54 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:05.920 for their time and they accrue retirement points, which is a different system than 55 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:12.560 the active they have, because you get if you if you drilled once a 56 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:18.439 month, you get four points for each drill weekend, and you get for 57 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:25.560 two weeks, you get fourteen points. Anyway, that figures out as all 58 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:29.120 those points add up for your retirement package. And at some point you have 59 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:33.680 enough where you can you can retire if you spend twenty years or whatever, 60 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:39.040 then and your whatever and whatever your rank is, and all you get. 61 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:43.360 Your number of points you have is divided by the number of possible days on 62 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:47.040 a year by the number of years you served or some magic formula and they 63 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:51.839 came up with a number that will be what percentage of active duty pay or 64 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:58.079 pay grade you will get, and that's how your retirement is calculated. The 65 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.240 ir doesn't get any money, so they unless they're called active duty, and 66 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:06.319 what they're called active duty, I guess they get points for every day they 67 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:12.000 spend on active duty. At least that's how the Navy Reserve works. I'm 68 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:15.720 much quite sure about what the other services have, but I think it's pretty 69 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:21.920 similar if I so almost need a spreadsheet with embedded if then statements and differential 70 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:26.560 equations to spend to figure out what you're doing. And I you know the 71 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:29.439 of course, the Army don't just have the Army Reserve. They also have 72 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:35.600 the National Guard. I know some lifelong friends of mine are are in the 73 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:41.680 Air Force Reserve and their system is very very Yes, some interesting career options 74 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:46.839 in the Air Force Reserve that there's really nothing comparable to it on the Navy 75 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:50.560 side of the house. It's it's hard hard to understand. It's not really 76 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:57.800 what we would call full time support are for you really gray backs the old 77 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:00.199 tars. It's different than that it's more than that, is more integrated than 78 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:06.199 that. But of course the Navy Reserve is its own little little world in 79 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:14.120 that regard. But I thought that was an interesting exercise just to see not 80 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:17.319 just people's reaction. I had a little fun with it, but also, 81 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:26.360 you know, here we are, we like to tell ourselves where the world's 82 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.920 most effective military. We're not the largest, but we are the most effective. 83 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:35.720 We have global reach, we have all these allied systems, systems of 84 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:44.199 allies, and a pretty big active duty force, especially relative to our neighbors. 85 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:49.399 But we feel the need that we need to tap a few thousand more 86 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:54.959 people on the shoulder. And my understanding, we've already activated quite a few 87 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:58.680 reserves in the course of the last year and a half. It just hasn't 88 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:01.480 broken about the background noise. He's like, this total message from the White 89 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:09.240 House did. But we have to do that in order to make relatively modest 90 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:15.199 logistics. Happened to another nation's war that we just happened to be supporting. 91 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:18.040 You know, it makes you kind of tilt the head, But you go 92 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:22.319 back to Desert Storm, you would go back to you know, this is 93 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:26.120 personal to you. The Balkan Wars and of course what we're doing in Afghan 94 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:33.159 Afghanistan and in Iraq, reserves were a big part of that. I know 95 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:37.879 at HQ is staff when I was there, not just Navy Reserve, but 96 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:43.519 Air Force Army reserves were in there, really thick, including all the oldest 97 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:48.039 Army major I've ever seen in my life. He retired on active duty back 98 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:52.639 in Vietnam, but because he was a civil affairs guy, they gave him 99 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:54.440 a call and his wife asked him, well, this mean you retirement? 100 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:58.919 If he will be more? He said, yes, you went back on 101 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:05.159 active duty to go working couple. But I guess and you you were a 102 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:11.279 junior officer when this whole argument took place is in the period immediately after Vietnam. 103 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:18.320 Part of our all volunteer Navy, and the way they structured the reserves 104 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:24.039 at that point was if we were ever going to get involved in a conflict 105 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:35.120 that was not a quote war unquote full mobilization, that it would hit broadly 106 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:39.720 in our nation, for people's family members and neighbors would be called up. 107 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:45.480 I wonder if we've reached the point though that since nineteen ninety one, if 108 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:48.480 it's become so regular that it nobody notices anymore. It's just kind of the 109 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:54.039 way we do things. Yeah, I think, I mean most people don't 110 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:56.639 know. I mean, if you're if you're a cell res theoretically you're in 111 00:09:56.679 --> 00:10:03.120 a unit or drilling with a unit that if it, if it serves some 112 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:05.759 function that they need, then you'll get called up. So if you're a 113 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:13.919 if you're a Navy diver in a in a mobile diving and salvage reserve unit, 114 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:16.480 then and they need divers, that's a good chance you get called to 115 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:20.840 active duty. But you're already you know, that's that's part of what you're 116 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:26.559 getting that monthly pay for and gaining those retirement points as they can call on 117 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:31.360 you anytime. It is. It is different when you start digging down into 118 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:37.919 the r R or even into the volunteer training it which is or essentially acceptute 119 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:43.720 drill um. You know, you're not getting paid. You're you're attending the 120 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:48.159 drills just to get points and maybe to acquire some job that will looks good 121 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:52.200 so that when a paid billet comes available, maybe you'll select for that. 122 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:58.960 So you know, so when I was when I was called up for a 123 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:03.679 desert storm, my reserve unit was an insurre undersea warfare unit. We got 124 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:09.120 called up as a unit and we went to Saudi Arabia and other places and 125 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:13.159 then we came home as a unit. So that was that was a unit 126 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:16.120 activation of selected reserves. I also had in that unit, I had a 127 00:11:16.120 --> 00:11:22.559 few active duty people that kept our equipment and the message traffic and stuff, 128 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:28.240 um um, while all the rest of us were doing our normal civilian jobs. 129 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.159 So that was that's another kind of union. It was a commissioned unit 130 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:35.639 um and and that that was different kind of call it. Now, if 131 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:39.360 you have some special skill, like there was a friend of mine who was 132 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:46.480 the is a salvage officer, marine engineer, and he gets every time we 133 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:50.039 blow up, we get a ship blown up like the the or has a 134 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:54.159 collision. He's the guy who the Navy was calling on to go out and 135 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.200 get those ships loaded on those heavy lift ships because that was a particular area 136 00:11:58.200 --> 00:12:03.039 of expertise he had. So you know that he got called up for that 137 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:07.039 and said he would either go as a civilian contract or get paid buck big 138 00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:09.960 bucks, or they call him up as a Navy commander camp and then he 139 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:15.440 would go get paid lesser bucks. But they could actively for that kind of 140 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:20.639 work for I was in and once you get on a lot of these things, 141 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:24.039 you could call to active duty. I got called active duty for the 142 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:26.639 Kosovolt thing, but I was I was supposed to do one mission, and 143 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:28.679 of course there's a bait and switch thing you get there. Well, the 144 00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:33.039 mission we called you up for it doesn't exist anymore. But hey, you've 145 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:35.759 got this skill set, so why don't you do this for a while. 146 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:39.200 And you know, so they've already got you. You're already being paid. 147 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:43.320 I don't think there it's coming out of their pocket necessarily the money that you 148 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:46.360 are getting. So you know, they're happy to keep you as long as 149 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:52.440 you're willing to stay and there's something for you to do that's meaningful, so 150 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:56.759 you know. And that is also a lot of cell rez and maybe some 151 00:12:56.840 --> 00:13:00.440 of our our guys I don't know, got called up or volume cared to 152 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:07.840 go to Afghanistan and other places during that Afghan Iraqi war and they got a 153 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:13.919 signed kind of like some of you active duty folks got assigned to be replaced 154 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.039 take the job that should have been held by army or air force personnel at 155 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:22.440 either commands or or headquarters units for the most part, unless you know, 156 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:26.480 of course there's some reserve seal and that that would profit get you into a 157 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:30.840 different kind of and a different kind of unit if you got shipped overseas. 158 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:33.720 So we know you, but I both know that people who got sent on 159 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:39.039 some of those jobs, and you know, depending on your level of expertise 160 00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:43.600 and what they wanted you for, you could you could end up being And 161 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:46.559 here I think we're talking about a army guy alldost Army or where he was 162 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:50.480 that they'd ever seen. You know, if they want you and you're sixty 163 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:54.000 four or sixty five years old, they'll they'll take you. I mean, 164 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:00.080 we had a doctor who would in one of our medical units who was at 165 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:03.759 least sixty seven, and uh, you know, he just kept going and 166 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:05.600 he was like energizer bunny. They just kept calling him up because he had 167 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:11.600 a special level of expertise. Yeah, it's one of those things that if 168 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:16.600 if you're in good physical shape and you're willing to serve. I know one 169 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:18.759 story that I remember from early on in the Iraq War, I think I 170 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:24.039 wrote something about it was seven or o eight. It was a guy who 171 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.799 was a numerous surgeon, right who was an orthopedic surgeon and his son. 172 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:33.240 I believe it was killed in Iraq and he volunteered to go over there to 173 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:37.159 be a doctor. Yeah, and he was. He was in his sixties, 174 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:39.639 and you know, he went to knife and fork school and he was 175 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:45.159 over there because because of the damn the injuries you're taking place, you couldn't 176 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:48.840 get enough orthopedic guys. You couldn't get too many of them. And that 177 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:54.639 was kind of how he worked through his own grief. So it's it's always 178 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:58.919 interesting when the balloon goes up. I remember joking to very very patient, 179 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:03.399 understanding spouse about this. She got of raised an eyebrow. I was like, 180 00:15:03.480 --> 00:15:07.679 oh no, if I'm still a kid, I'm still in my keep 181 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:11.120 wanting to say mid fifties, but I think i'm when I border to late 182 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:13.519 fifties, but I'm still a kid. I was like, oh no, 183 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:16.879 no, no. If for pulled me up, we have larger problems and 184 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:20.240 me being activated, I think I'm pretty safe. I'm retired. I just 185 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:24.399 talked to a friend of mine had just retired from the Naval Reserve as well, 186 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:28.480 and he's like, they're not getting me. If they had, if 187 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:31.320 they come grab me, we're in big trouble, So yeah, I don't. 188 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:35.240 It's one of those things that when they do activate the reserves. I 189 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:37.919 send a note to somebody who was look excited about it. I was like, 190 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:43.639 no, if you're pulling cell rez and IRR people, these are not 191 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:48.360 people's teenage kids, are college age kids. These are people in their thirties, 192 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:52.759 forties, and fifties that are getting tapped on the shoulder. It's you 193 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:56.480 know, the military, it's the geriatric Brigade going forward, so the phil 194 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:02.080 billets, they're not much of twenty year olds being pulled up. Yeah, 195 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:04.879 I mean that's right. And uh but you know, if you've got some 196 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:08.519 like I knew a guy was a forensic dentist. You know, he got 197 00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:11.200 called up a lot because every times there was a plane crash and they needed 198 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:15.799 to somebody who identify people through their teeth because that was all that was left. 199 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:22.559 Um, they call him up. So I've never heard it. Sounds 200 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:26.159 like a joke, but it's true. Um. I always tell people be 201 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:33.559 very careful what is in your record about your subspecialty codes. I quit. 202 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:40.960 The last conversations I had before my detailer before I left active duty is one 203 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:48.559 of my subspecialty codes was financial management because of my academic background. And uh, 204 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:52.720 basically he was trying to sell me on the fact that I could go 205 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:59.559 into an eight job, the finance part um, some job where they're have 206 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:03.159 somehow which is I'm like, if you're trying to encourage me to continue with 207 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:07.599 retire here, you're doing pretty well here, but I could you know, 208 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:11.440 in the reserves, because you are not just reserves in the military in general. 209 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:17.480 You are a number. And if there's a demand for you know, 210 00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:22.279 seventy two forty five, they'll do their little get into their Unix machine over 211 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:30.319 in Millington that's been around since the Korean War, and it'll spit out everybody 212 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:33.920 who has those four numbers. And uh, if you're on that list, 213 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:37.920 you're going to get a call. So be careful what sub especially codes you 214 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.359 have in there, because it can especially if you leave active duty and go 215 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:45.039 into the reserves, you can you can return to active city faster than you 216 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:51.480 think. Yeah, when I was over in Italy for the Coastal thing, 217 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:56.240 they suggested it because I was a lawyer, that maybe I would want to 218 00:17:56.279 --> 00:18:02.960 help the JAG people, and respectfully declined. So, yeah, we're gonna 219 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:08.319 We're gonna do a night insertion via Helo to Sarajevo. That's one of those 220 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:11.599 things where you you walk off and you go, excuse me, I'm in 221 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:15.559 the navy. There's no water here. I go back to the boat. 222 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:22.079 Please. Oh no, you're a lawyer. We have ways of making your 223 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:29.440 work. You know that. It's funny because, yeah, lawyers are kind 224 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.559 of like doctors in this regard. You know, if you have if you're 225 00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:37.240 having heart problems, you don't go to your dermatologist if you have you know, 226 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:41.279 if you're have any problems with your estate, you don't need to probate 227 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:45.839 work done you. You don't go to somebody who's a public defender or a 228 00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:48.880 slip fall lawyer. Um. You know, people have their different specialties. 229 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:52.480 But yeah, it's like, oh, you're a lawyer, come here and 230 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:56.119 help us with the war crimes. I'm a business guy. Do you have 231 00:18:56.119 --> 00:19:00.440 a contract I can look at? It's a little different. Well yeah, 232 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.720 And that's basically what I told him was, I don't think the skill set 233 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.000 that I acquire as a lawyer for big oil companies is particularly useful on what 234 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:14.200 they were doing. So oh man, hey, another thing that we could 235 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:15.920 probably go for reserves all day. Maybe I tried to get a guest of 236 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:21.519 our to come on just to talk about but I think he's doing like everybody 237 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:26.160 else is doing this summer and going on vacation. But um, there's something 238 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:30.839 I think that we could do three episodes one. But something that you mentioned 239 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:37.519 in the pre show that I also wanted to dive into is uh, you 240 00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:41.839 learned from the h you learned something new every day. I never heard though, 241 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:48.319 I should have Laconia Shoals outline for listening or what the Laconia Shoals are 242 00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:55.240 and why they should go to Wikipeda and start reading up. Yeah, the 243 00:19:55.359 --> 00:20:02.440 Laconia Shoals are kind of a lower end of the Spratley Islands, which the 244 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:07.359 Spratley Islands if you're looking for him on a map, are near Palawan, 245 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:12.680 part of Philippines, kind of north of Brunei, north of the part of 246 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:19.200 Malaysia that that Brunei sits in the middle of on that and there, and 247 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:26.839 they're south east of Vietnam. So there's a Spratley's there's a whole bunch of 248 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:33.279 islands in that area, and then there's this Laconia Shoals and uh, it 249 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:40.160 happens to lie within the nine dash line of the Chinese. So the Chinese 250 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:47.480 have been really active for years and sending ships to this area and making all 251 00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:51.920 kinds of planes because it's in their nine dash line. Well, if you're 252 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:59.240 the Malaysians, you've got an exclusive economic zone which covers all or part of 253 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:04.960 these of the islands are shoals, and you know you're politely telling the Chinese, 254 00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:07.920 no, we really don't nature help. Well, the Chinese have been 255 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:17.680 persisting, and recently there was a a there's a new entity from Stanford University. 256 00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:21.759 Uh, it's called you can find it. It's called the Sea Light 257 00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:27.000 Dot Live and it's it talks about the maritime Gray Zone. I'll put a 258 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:33.319 link up here to this copy that. Uh So, anyway, they talk 259 00:21:33.400 --> 00:21:41.960 about UM the Gray Area activities of the Chinese. And today on Twitter, 260 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:53.720 the head of this organization put out a UM Twitter tweet that UM mentioned that 261 00:21:53.799 --> 00:22:02.880 the Chinese had had set a scientific theoretically a scientific exiporation ship down there to 262 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:10.079 check out the the those shoals and had been accompanied by a Chinese Coastguard ship. 263 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:15.880 So uh, and this is the and this is the second time recently 264 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:22.000 within the last five weeks that this ship has gone down there. So um, 265 00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:25.680 it is another one of those cases where you watch the Chinese pushing the 266 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:30.519 envelope in many different ways, and this is this is one of those one 267 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:36.200 of those ways. I did the thing I always like to do. I 268 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:40.599 needly went to Google Earth and I did a little search. You know, 269 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:48.039 where where is Laconia relative to the nearest Chinese real lands and us for those 270 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:56.920 that have your globe handy feel breed Hainan Island where we, for a variety 271 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:00.200 of reasons, decide we wanted to land one of our most classified aircraft on 272 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:06.240 Quarter Sanrigo. If you go from Heinen Island one six four true at eight 273 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:11.039 hundred and twenty nautical miles, you hit the rough area of Laconia shoals where 274 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:17.319 that is relative. If you are sitting in Miami and you wanted to know 275 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:21.279 what eight hundred and twenty nautical miles away, it's roughly the distance from Miami 276 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:26.400 to San Juan, or you know the northwest coast of Puerto Rico, which 277 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:30.920 is also the same distance to a lot of the west coast of Nicaragua, 278 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:37.000 Honduras, El Salvador so it's it's kind of sometimes that I think about the 279 00:23:37.079 --> 00:23:41.759 Chinese mindset towards the South China. See, I think about the Gulf of 280 00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:45.720 Mexico and the Caribbean and the American mind and that those ranges are similar if 281 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:49.319 you go all the way down to Laconia, because a twenty if you go, 282 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:53.759 you know, directly to south, you tickle the Colombian border and where 283 00:23:53.920 --> 00:24:00.039 Aruba, curs Alan Baner are except the fact that besides, there's some little 284 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:11.400 islands in the west central Caribbean that both US and Colombia claimed, but we 285 00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:14.000 we just shrug our shouldiers and we don't fight with it. Or was at 286 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:15.720 the US and Nicaragua, I don't know us and some of the one country 287 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:18.920 down there we will have claims to it, though we have never done anything 288 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:25.839 and is kind of really theirs, but we haven't really stated that this is 289 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:32.200 all ours outside of the little spot that we have and get Mo and of 290 00:24:32.200 --> 00:24:36.480 course Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, but nobody questions our ownership. We 291 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:44.319 bought or conquered those very square or traded for but they interesting thing about the 292 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:51.440 Lacodia shoals is a lot of what Chinese like to claim as these things are 293 00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:56.559 always historically ours. And one thing that I do like about Wikipedia, you 294 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:00.759 gotta be careful quoting it. But ye to go two layers deep in Wikipedia, 295 00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:07.440 and you have to look at the footnotes, and they under the Wikipedia 296 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:11.119 Laconia Shoals. There's a nice footnote from a twenty nineteen study with this guy 297 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:17.039 who he went through and he looked at the Chinese claims is South China Sea 298 00:25:17.079 --> 00:25:19.720 and what they derived and they actually talked about the Laconia shoals. And I'm 299 00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:25.279 able going to try to pronounce it, because I still can't pronounce Chairman. 300 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:32.960 She's named correctly, everybody tells me. But basically it's a sinusized which is 301 00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:40.160 the equivalent of Anglicized version of Laconia from the nineteen thirties. And so they 302 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:42.680 really don't have a claim to it, but that won't stop them from making 303 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:48.920 a claim. And it sits in the southeast corner athwart those shipping lanes coming 304 00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:55.920 out of the Singapore Straits, and if you go northwest of them, they're 305 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:03.640 into the Gulf of Thailand off the Cambodian border. There's also the Cambodian Naval 306 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:08.440 base there that the Chinese. It's interesting some of the passive aggressive stuff on 307 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:15.519 it. Last decade, we gave some money to Cambodia to put some buildings 308 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:19.000 on rem naval base. Well, the Chinese have gone into re naval base. 309 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:23.920 They've torn those down and they're basically building a dual use facility naval base. 310 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:27.880 Now it's up there in the Gulf of Thailand. Between those two locations. 311 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:32.400 You can see with what they're doing in the South China Sea and reaching 312 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:37.079 further south of there, because that's that main sea line of communication that doesn't 313 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:41.559 just go to the People's Republic of China, but that's also where Japan, 314 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:48.079 Taiwan, the Philippines, all those people, that's their major artery that I 315 00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:53.759 guess that's the equivalent of North America, the coast right off Newfoundland, all 316 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:57.799 that that great circle route, all those major convoy routes are all going to 317 00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:02.640 go through there. And you don't have to be somebody who played risk every 318 00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:07.480 other weekend in their great school years to see the importance of geography. They're 319 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:15.920 all kind of makes sense. But you know what is the scatterings of Borneo, 320 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:22.079 the Philippines, Indonesia and a little to west Malaysia, and you can 321 00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:26.839 throw in Singapore and Vietnam. You can kind of see where they're trying to 322 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:30.799 have united front. But China look to be in a pretty big, pretty 323 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:37.039 nice position where what are these little scattered countries going to do about it? 324 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:40.440 And so far, nobody's really though. I think Indonesia has blown up a 325 00:27:40.440 --> 00:27:44.680 few Chinese fishing boats, but nobody really has called them on it, or 326 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:51.200 even really has the capability to call them on it. I think I think 327 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:53.599 people are calling them on it, but you know that that doesn't stop the 328 00:27:53.680 --> 00:28:03.000 Chinese. So unless you are willing to engage in physical instruction of somebody that's 329 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:08.519 in your exclusive economic zone. And you know, if the their their claim 330 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:14.880 is that they're exploring I can't remember exactly what unclass says about the ability to 331 00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:18.759 explore anybody else's exclusive economic zone, but you know they're gonna they're they're playing 332 00:28:18.839 --> 00:28:22.920 this game. It's it's salami slicing. We're just going to keep nudging, 333 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:26.200 nudging, nudging. I just put a link up to a map that the 334 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:34.880 uh c C SIS had. It shows where Laconia Shoals is pretty clearly right 335 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:41.960 off the coast of Brunei and Malaysia, so you know, and that was 336 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:45.279 back in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen. So this is this is not a 337 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:52.400 new effort on the Chinese. Chinese to just work their way slowly, methodically. 338 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:56.079 Time is on their side. Nobody's going to do anything. And you 339 00:28:56.119 --> 00:29:00.720 know, they ignore the the international arbitration thing that told them was quit doing 340 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:12.599 stuff to the Philippines and UM where the Philippines both territorial waters and UM Exclusive 341 00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:18.920 Economic Zone meets other countries in the South China Sea. So you know, 342 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:23.359 they're just they're scoff laws. I want to back up a bit because you 343 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:27.839 mentioned it and you put a link in the chat room UM. But this 344 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:30.839 is a great example for the listeners that I don't care how long you've been 345 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:36.079 soaking in this is you will always find out about new resources. It is 346 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:42.079 a pretty new resource. But you mentioned UM sea light from the what is 347 00:29:42.119 --> 00:29:48.119 the Sanford I wrote it down somewhere. Yeah, here we go the Stanford 348 00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:52.720 University, Gordian not Center for National Security. I like that name. Uh 349 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:56.160 you know, where's Alexander with the sword when you need them? But I 350 00:29:56.160 --> 00:30:00.920 would encourage the listeners to to go into the chat room if you're with us 351 00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:04.240 live and kind of look at what's going on there, what they've done recently. 352 00:30:04.680 --> 00:30:07.880 And for those who are up on the podcast, I'll put a link 353 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.240 on the show page. You can just go down and find it. But 354 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:15.200 you look over the month of July, China greets Philippine Coastguard with Armada at 355 00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:23.119 the second time is soul China's Gray Zone Tactics, playbook Tactics playbook Swarming. 356 00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:27.400 Then they just talk about a couple of things. They talk about rafting, 357 00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:33.319 they talk about unsafe maneuvers. So it's really it not only talks about this 358 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:36.839 series of things that China's been doing for a while, but it has it 359 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:42.119 in little nice, little bite size, bite size pieces, so to speak, 360 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:47.079 and be interesting to see if they keep this pace up of topics. 361 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:51.920 But it looks like an interesting resource. I've only done a little skim of 362 00:30:51.960 --> 00:30:55.319 it in the last hour or so, but you gave me a good homework 363 00:30:55.319 --> 00:30:59.519 assignment this week to look at it because Stanford University, it's no slack, 364 00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:03.079 so you got a pretty good minds thinking about it. Yeah, it's a 365 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:08.079 it's a good resource, and you know they're there are a lot of people 366 00:31:08.599 --> 00:31:12.720 and csis has this UH kind what is the name of that thing? They've 367 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:19.559 got their own UH island tracking thing of what's happening in the UH in the 368 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:22.920 South China. See, so they're they're, they've they're they've jumped on this 369 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:26.720 to quite c S. I s am T. I think it is. 370 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:32.519 Um. It's a project that they've got going. So the good stance, 371 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:36.599 the let's see what it is. I just knocked myself off the air. 372 00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:45.359 I've forgot you, Okay, Asia Asian Maritime Transparent Parency Initiative, And I'll 373 00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:51.920 put that on the soon as I get back on the show site. Well 374 00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:53.920 the audio is still good regards to what you. Yeah, I do that. 375 00:31:53.960 --> 00:31:56.720 I try to change from one window to another and I just delete it 376 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:04.839 as like I got too many windows open is what mounts to So I apologize 377 00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:07.000 to everybody. All right, I'll be back at her in a second. 378 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:12.559 Yeah, sure, no problem. Well I'll continue prattling on. But there's 379 00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:20.279 regardless of how much you talk about things and you cover topics, it's sometimes 380 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:24.640 you feel like you're nobody's listening, or maybe you're the only one that really 381 00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:28.960 cares. But the more you read, the more you realize are other people 382 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:35.319 working in parallel paths that aren't covering similar issues. And you know, when 383 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:39.119 you look at one of the things that maybe smile this week is and I 384 00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:44.279 know we've talked about it here for over a decade, I pried along about 385 00:32:44.279 --> 00:32:50.559 it on a regular basis of writing, but it's always kind of bothered me, 386 00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:57.440 and in particular for the topic, but it also bothered me that really 387 00:32:57.480 --> 00:33:01.160 important people weren't prioritizing the problem them. And one of them of those issues 388 00:33:01.240 --> 00:33:04.319 is the fact that, you know, maybe it's just the way I was 389 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:10.279 raised, but real friends, when you have a common project, they help 390 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:14.000 out that the best that they can. Some people are stronger, some people 391 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:21.200 are weaker. Some people have more financial capabilities than others. But everybody makes 392 00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:25.519 a fair share. You know, if if one family can bring a main 393 00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:30.759 dish, maybe another family can you know, bring some mixed fruit or or 394 00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:35.160 some flanked up and everybody tries. And it's never good any type of relationship 395 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:39.559 to have a free rider. Somebody that uh, you know, expects everybody 396 00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:43.400 else to bring the beer to the party, never brings a side dish, 397 00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:47.000 just shows up and eats and drinks everybody else's stuff. That just creates resentment 398 00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:51.440 and makes it makes it hard to keep a friendship group intact, and alliances 399 00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:58.240 are kind of like that. And on meat, I think it was meat 400 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:02.079 depressed this weekend. It was kind of nice to see with the whole our 401 00:34:02.200 --> 00:34:08.639 NATO friends need to do their fair share. A Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, 402 00:34:09.159 --> 00:34:13.840 he came on and kind of called Canada out as an example, and 403 00:34:13.880 --> 00:34:16.679 I like what he stated that of the thirty one nations, yes, we 404 00:34:16.760 --> 00:34:21.199 now have thirty one that are in NATO, there are only seven that are 405 00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:29.199 spending that floor of two percent. Everybody else is not in Canada just spends 406 00:34:29.280 --> 00:34:32.719 one point to nine percent, which is even less than what Germany spends. 407 00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:37.239 And when you see a senator in an environment like that that we'll bring that 408 00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:43.880 topic up. It's encouraging because we could talk about all day long and we're 409 00:34:43.880 --> 00:34:46.880 not going to move the needle much. But when US senators start bringing that 410 00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:52.960 up again. He kind of disappeared when we changed administrations. But I think 411 00:34:54.039 --> 00:34:58.880 the larger body politic is still getting leverage on that, which is good because 412 00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:06.760 I also read this week that specifically Germany, that there is a regression to 413 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:13.119 the mean of buying Russian energy and the Russian sanctions and already starting to talk 414 00:35:13.159 --> 00:35:16.039 about one to back them up while the war is still going on. So 415 00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:25.559 having senators and other senior people keeping up some of the healthy criticism that hopefully 416 00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:30.159 will have some effect on a larger alliance, because if it keeps building resentment, 417 00:35:30.199 --> 00:35:36.880 you still have free riders. Not only does it I think weaken the 418 00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:43.239 alliance and real terms and we've seen that in our limited stockpilis we can share, 419 00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:46.559 but it also weakens the alliance and that it makes those players who are 420 00:35:46.599 --> 00:35:53.679 doing their fair share go into greater conflict with their fellow Alliance members who don't 421 00:35:53.679 --> 00:36:00.400 appear to be getting off the couch and pushing. Yeah, you hit me 422 00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:05.840 with a number. I was somebody hit me with a number that Canada is 423 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:08.920 one of the one of the chief scate countries. They were like one point 424 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:12.760 two eight percent or something. It was a really low number of what they 425 00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:19.119 were Yeah, so that's not impressive. They're fairly even though they're not a 426 00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:22.800 large country populationalized, they're a fairly wealthy country. They should be chipping in 427 00:36:22.840 --> 00:36:28.119 their fair share. Yeah, they've got a population. If I think it's 428 00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:32.639 roughly ten percent, maybe between ten and twelve percent of the US population. 429 00:36:34.760 --> 00:36:39.760 If they spent at least the two percent of their GDP on defense, that's 430 00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:45.320 huge. They're half the size of the UK in France roughly, you know, 431 00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:49.400 plus a NINEUS ten percent. They're not insignificant, but they are insignificant 432 00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:53.760 players. And it goes back a fair bit if you look at forced generation 433 00:36:54.159 --> 00:37:00.639 during the First World War, Canada pretty much they had no office at all. 434 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:09.719 They just were blended into Commonwealth nations. They fought in the Korean War, 435 00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:17.559 they didn't play it in the Vietnam War. They were a rounding error 436 00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:27.079 during Desert Storm. They I don't think they did anything and I wrack of 437 00:37:27.239 --> 00:37:30.639 mentioned though they did and from a training team point of view. And in 438 00:37:30.679 --> 00:37:34.920 the first few years in Afghanistan they had you know, they called Kandahar Province 439 00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:40.039 Canadahar because the Canadians put in maneuver forces. They even had to borrow some 440 00:37:40.119 --> 00:37:43.800 tanks because they just got murdered their tanks and decided they need it, so 441 00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:49.000 they got some Leopard and one back. But they moved their maneuver forces out 442 00:37:49.159 --> 00:37:52.199 in two thousand and seven, which I really don't blame them. They they 443 00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:57.679 came in there pretty firm for half a decade and expected other Alliance members kind 444 00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:02.239 of like the Dutch who left the LS last left Oregon Province more or less 445 00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:07.000 at the same year, but other Alliance members didn't came in. So I 446 00:38:07.039 --> 00:38:10.679 don't fall to too much for that. But they they used to be quite 447 00:38:10.760 --> 00:38:17.360 the powerhouse, but they between the UK and the US, they figured they 448 00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:21.800 just didn't need to invest as much in the Alliance member, which is a 449 00:38:21.880 --> 00:38:24.719 shame because if you've worked with Canadians, you know that pound for pound they're 450 00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:30.760 if good as good, if not better than the US military, and especially 451 00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:36.320 in some specialized areas. All right, you know they have they are active 452 00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:39.760 when when you know, when they do send their people, their military people 453 00:38:39.800 --> 00:38:45.440 to places where the military people are needed, and including the NATO efforts at 454 00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:52.559 in Europe and stuff. But they're just they're they're tiny, and they spend 455 00:38:52.599 --> 00:38:57.400 their money. They have a lot of you know, given the size of 456 00:38:57.440 --> 00:39:02.840 their coastline and what's theoretically going to happen at the Arctic Arctic ice melts, 457 00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:10.440 they have a huge uh seacoast and they're going to need more more assets. 458 00:39:10.480 --> 00:39:17.000 So they're they're they're they're they're gonna have to pony up. And you know, 459 00:39:17.159 --> 00:39:22.159 I don't know what they count toward NATO because I'm you know, and 460 00:39:22.199 --> 00:39:25.000 I've never quite understood this is the amount of money that they're attributing them. 461 00:39:25.079 --> 00:39:30.159 Is that their total defense budget or is that just the money that that NATO 462 00:39:30.159 --> 00:39:31.880 gives them credit for, because you know, they do have a lot of 463 00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:38.159 stuff going on with with the radar systems and stuff that we still maintain across 464 00:39:38.199 --> 00:39:43.280 the northern part of Canada. Well, yeah, this this could kind of 465 00:39:43.280 --> 00:39:46.119 flow into a topic I know you wanted to talk about, because if if 466 00:39:46.119 --> 00:39:52.039 the Canadians had a change in government and wanted to go from two point nine 467 00:39:52.119 --> 00:39:57.280 to two point seven five by twenty twenty seven and then by uh twenty thirty 468 00:39:57.559 --> 00:40:00.840 two point zero and up, I could think of one one great place for 469 00:40:00.920 --> 00:40:07.079 them to invest some money. And they need to replace their submarines, Yeah, 470 00:40:07.199 --> 00:40:12.840 especially with their Arctic commitments. If the Canadians wanted to join in the 471 00:40:12.920 --> 00:40:19.000 Aucus program with their fellow Commonwealth members Australia, with the mother country in the 472 00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:22.320 UK, that's kind of a I know there's in some discussions that they all 473 00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:28.760 get more conventional submarines because the Dutch and the Norwegians and the Polls I think 474 00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:35.360 are working together on undue conventional design, but that's really optimized for the Baltic 475 00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:40.679 and the North Sea. Canada has huge maritime requirements and they do have a 476 00:40:40.679 --> 00:40:45.199 good submarine tradition. They're not like the Danes who got rid of theirs. 477 00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:52.400 Boy, that would be great if the Canadians wanted to take advantage of this 478 00:40:52.559 --> 00:41:02.000 interesting windows opening up and they could, they could get capability. Now that 479 00:41:02.199 --> 00:41:07.199 would have cost him a lot more money should aucus have never existed. It 480 00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:15.000 would be interesting to see the business case on that. Yeah, and maybe 481 00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:17.119 they'll jump into it, you know, because they can't remember. They have 482 00:41:17.239 --> 00:41:20.800 kind of a checker history with the submarines they did him. I think kind 483 00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:23.480 of like the Australians that they had these was it Colins class or something that 484 00:41:23.599 --> 00:41:28.920 turned out to be not all the all the best possible things. But yeah, 485 00:41:29.199 --> 00:41:31.840 they bought the last of the British conventional submarines from the end of the 486 00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:37.960 Cold War. Who had in certain or anybody who's owned British cars in the 487 00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:42.000 seventies a dayies will appreciate that had a lot of electrical issues. They've had 488 00:41:42.119 --> 00:41:45.079 they've had problems with it. They just they don't haven't had quality. And 489 00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:47.519 before that they had Oberon class boats which were good. But we're just old 490 00:41:47.559 --> 00:41:55.760 as dirt. Yeah, as the owner of two mgs from the sixties and 491 00:41:55.840 --> 00:42:05.199 seventies, Yes, the electrical problems may may have occasionally occurred anyway, Uh 492 00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:07.920 yeah, you know. I think that the good news is that Aucus looks 493 00:42:07.920 --> 00:42:20.159 like as moving forward with the with the Congress allowing the the technology transfer. 494 00:42:20.440 --> 00:42:25.599 And also three three Australian officers have completed the Nuclear Power School and are going 495 00:42:25.639 --> 00:42:34.280 to be assigned to assume pack fleet submarines to learn the trade, uh nuclear 496 00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:37.440 power trade the way. So that is great. I think it's great news 497 00:42:38.159 --> 00:42:44.039 for the Australian's great news for the US and it shows that we're making a 498 00:42:44.119 --> 00:42:51.440 serious commitment to to make this accus thing work. It really is a natural 499 00:42:51.519 --> 00:42:57.519 fit. In Australia is even smaller than Canada, but unlike Canada, they 500 00:42:57.519 --> 00:43:01.920 don't have a big neighbor is friendly too. I mean their largest neighbor is 501 00:43:01.960 --> 00:43:09.559 going is Indonesia, who have they have an ippy history with, and New 502 00:43:09.639 --> 00:43:15.840 Zealand to the southeast is even smaller. I think they're six millions. I 503 00:43:15.880 --> 00:43:17.480 should know how many New Zealanders are. But they're a very small country. 504 00:43:17.519 --> 00:43:22.320 They're like comparable to Norway or Denmark, so they and they live in a 505 00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:32.280 tough neighborhood there besides the US. Their closest possible ally is Japan, way 506 00:43:32.360 --> 00:43:37.639 north of there. But you know that's not not a natural pairing either. 507 00:43:37.119 --> 00:43:43.960 So it makes sense that with a China that is intent on expanding and some 508 00:43:44.039 --> 00:43:49.880 of the for those that have read the Australian press, they had some pretty 509 00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:52.639 and they're still working through it though from what I've seen, they've made success 510 00:43:52.800 --> 00:44:00.719 mostly mitigating it. But before they got religion on China's as a few years 511 00:44:00.760 --> 00:44:08.039 ago, the People's Reublic of China had made a very big impact and influenced 512 00:44:08.079 --> 00:44:14.880 operation in their academia and in their business. Because the Australian economy is similar 513 00:44:14.920 --> 00:44:17.039 to Russia in the way it's an extraction economy. They have lots of they 514 00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:22.159 have more natural resources than they can do a value added stuff too locally, 515 00:44:22.519 --> 00:44:25.440 so they export a lot of coal, understand, a lot of iron ore, 516 00:44:27.320 --> 00:44:32.840 a lot of other type of raw materials to the Chinese. So there's 517 00:44:32.880 --> 00:44:44.239 this huge connection economically to China, not unlike what Germany was continuing to develop 518 00:44:44.320 --> 00:44:50.639 with Russia. When you have those kind of economic ties, where would you 519 00:44:50.679 --> 00:44:53.920 look at New Zealand Again, I've looked up a couple of weeks ago they 520 00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:59.199 Shore they signed a free trade agreement with the People's Republic of China in eight 521 00:45:00.159 --> 00:45:07.599 Since then their exports have increased eightfold, to the point that even if New 522 00:45:07.679 --> 00:45:15.559 Zealand wanted to mitigate the amount of economic play and reliance they had on the 523 00:45:15.559 --> 00:45:20.559 People's Republic of China, their economy would implode. It would take a long 524 00:45:20.800 --> 00:45:25.320 time to if they can to bleed them off of that reliance on the People's 525 00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:30.400 Republic of China, kind of like the direction Germany was going before the February 526 00:45:30.960 --> 00:45:37.440 twenty twenty one invasion. The economic play in the geography again comes into play, 527 00:45:37.119 --> 00:45:45.159 and hopefully the Australians won't balk at the significant cost that nuclear submarines do 528 00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:52.559 have. But when you look at the requirements of distance and the fact that 529 00:45:53.199 --> 00:45:57.280 the UK and the US are some of the best partners they can have in 530 00:45:57.280 --> 00:46:00.440 this regard, it really does make sense. A lot of people are working 531 00:46:00.480 --> 00:46:05.880 hard to make the AUCUS program work well, and so far so good, 532 00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:12.800 but we'll see when things started getting displaced. I would assume that those officers 533 00:46:13.199 --> 00:46:20.000 going through the US nuke training are probably folks that just got through with their 534 00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:22.800 first seat tours that are probably qualified submarine ers just going through nuke school. 535 00:46:22.880 --> 00:46:29.039 So those are probably the guys that maybe won't be young enough to be the 536 00:46:29.079 --> 00:46:32.119 first CEO of Australian boats Pinball when they show up, but maybe the commodores. 537 00:46:32.519 --> 00:46:37.039 So it's nice to see them starting to build that cadre that could make 538 00:46:37.039 --> 00:46:44.039 it turnkey. Have you seen an update recently in the last few months about 539 00:46:44.079 --> 00:46:50.400 what the plan is, whether we're going to transfer Virginia Class already under construction 540 00:46:50.519 --> 00:46:53.519 to them. Are they just going to have to get in line production schedule 541 00:46:53.559 --> 00:46:58.880 on our end? I don't think that's in finalist. Yeah, I haven't 542 00:46:58.880 --> 00:47:01.920 seen that. I know we're supposed to start sending subs down there, um. 543 00:47:02.199 --> 00:47:07.000 And to give you an indication of who they sent, they sent two 544 00:47:07.039 --> 00:47:13.000 lieutenant commanders and a lieutenant to New Power School, So it's not exactly the 545 00:47:13.159 --> 00:47:16.800 most junior folks, um. But I think they're all Yeah, they're all 546 00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:22.599 looks like they're all wearing some kind of dolphins that helps, Yeah, that 547 00:47:22.679 --> 00:47:29.280 helps them build the leadership cadre that understands nuke and right, yeah, I 548 00:47:29.320 --> 00:47:37.039 mean but sub so that those are the your future program managers and the folks 549 00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:44.239 helping with shipyard and peer design, and we'll build those ships on the left 550 00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:47.280 side of the house befting to see where the UK comes in, So that 551 00:47:47.280 --> 00:47:53.679 that makes that sounds right, sounds smart. Well, I'm just again we've 552 00:47:53.960 --> 00:47:59.880 I've bashed the current administration on some things, but uh, the Soccus thing 553 00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:02.400 and the way they're making a move is I'm very impressed with that. So 554 00:48:08.599 --> 00:48:14.599 I don't know how that that funding will eventually play out or what the brit 555 00:48:15.719 --> 00:48:20.000 the brit contribution is. I remember one of the thoughts I had early on, 556 00:48:20.039 --> 00:48:22.440 It's like, oh, are they going to build a stute class submarines? 557 00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:28.280 And we've talked here a little bit about the very limited flex that we 558 00:48:28.400 --> 00:48:38.159 have are nuclear power and nuclear submarine infrastructure to build and evidently the British challenge 559 00:48:38.239 --> 00:48:42.920 which we do, which should be understandable because of the much smaller size of 560 00:48:42.960 --> 00:48:46.119 their force, it's even more tight. So the I guess the the UK 561 00:48:46.280 --> 00:48:51.320 will will help where they can, but I haven't maybe I need to read 562 00:48:51.360 --> 00:48:54.159 more British press to see what they've been doing so far. But I don't 563 00:48:54.159 --> 00:48:59.760 know how much of that partnership though the Brits will actually work work around maybe 564 00:48:59.800 --> 00:49:05.440 some of the weapon systems that our nuclear submarine community doesn't want to share with 565 00:49:05.480 --> 00:49:09.239 the Brits. With the Australians are the Brits that they'll they'll put that in. 566 00:49:09.239 --> 00:49:12.159 I don't know how you're going to hide that stuff if we're going to 567 00:49:12.239 --> 00:49:15.199 have some of the Aussies ride in our boats. But they'll figure it out. 568 00:49:15.960 --> 00:49:19.519 I've got it. They're still going. I think our next step is 569 00:49:19.519 --> 00:49:22.599 to go to the pro Nuclear Prototype School of course whatever it is in Idaho, 570 00:49:23.599 --> 00:49:28.320 and then they're going to go to the Basic Submarine Officer course. So, 571 00:49:28.440 --> 00:49:30.000 I mean, I'm not quite there. We've got a couple of years 572 00:49:30.079 --> 00:49:36.480 I think before before they hit the fleet. So but the next step after 573 00:49:36.519 --> 00:49:38.159 they do all that stuff, we'll be to put them on a boat somewhere. 574 00:49:39.960 --> 00:49:45.880 Yeah, I think them they station on the west coast of Australia. 575 00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:52.880 That's that's pretty easy access to the huge Indian Ocean there. I think that's 576 00:49:52.920 --> 00:49:54.400 where they have their submarines right now. It could be wrong. What is 577 00:49:54.440 --> 00:49:58.760 that Perth? Do I have that right? Yeah? Person is on the 578 00:49:58.800 --> 00:50:02.519 west coast. I think that's right there. There was a historically the US 579 00:50:02.599 --> 00:50:07.280 had a submarine facility. I think it was north of Perth, but on 580 00:50:07.320 --> 00:50:13.119 the on the west coast. Uh what I what I read about it, 581 00:50:13.079 --> 00:50:15.000 and this is based on something I read years ago, was it it was 582 00:50:15.079 --> 00:50:20.599 kind of a kind of a primitive location. It wasn't exactly like it's like, 583 00:50:20.920 --> 00:50:23.480 uh, but you know, we're fighting a war, so maybe that 584 00:50:23.559 --> 00:50:28.119 was good enough. Yeah, I know the you know, the Marines rotating 585 00:50:28.199 --> 00:50:32.079 out of Darwin. Darwin's kind of uh a ranch town to a certain extent. 586 00:50:32.199 --> 00:50:36.760 But Perth, that's that's a different matter. I don't think they're gonna 587 00:50:36.760 --> 00:50:42.719 have any much trouble in Millington fighting people volunteering to go to whatever facility wind 588 00:50:42.800 --> 00:50:51.119 up having in Perth would be a pretty nice set of orders. I'd go. 589 00:50:51.280 --> 00:50:54.920 Recall me, recall me. And also the with that growing partnership that 590 00:50:54.960 --> 00:51:01.559 we've had in the Indian Ocean with the Indians, who obviously are have similar 591 00:51:01.599 --> 00:51:07.480 concerns with a growing China, that we all do another one of those things 592 00:51:07.480 --> 00:51:12.239 that I saw in passing once but it had never really clicked in. But 593 00:51:16.800 --> 00:51:21.559 is we do exercises with the Japanese all the time, We do exercise with 594 00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:27.760 the Indians. We actually had you know, multinational exercises. But since twenty 595 00:51:27.840 --> 00:51:35.000 twelve, the Japanese and the Indians have been doing bilateral naval exercises and they 596 00:51:35.039 --> 00:51:42.840 call it gen X j I N E X. That is really an interesting 597 00:51:43.039 --> 00:51:46.320 idea. I would love to see some more detailed riots and already seen on 598 00:51:46.440 --> 00:51:52.159 how those two naties are interacting. I would assume the having worked with the 599 00:51:52.239 --> 00:51:57.559 Japanese, they worked very similar to we do. That that isn't being a 600 00:51:57.760 --> 00:52:02.320 combination of a four is that. I don't know how much of the future 601 00:52:02.360 --> 00:52:07.440 it has, but it is a way to kind of let China know that 602 00:52:08.039 --> 00:52:12.679 we have friends outside of just America, and we are making lots of friends. 603 00:52:12.719 --> 00:52:17.039 It was nice to see two one really friendly nation and one that's aggressively 604 00:52:17.119 --> 00:52:22.440 neutral working together like that because they do have mutual overlapping interests. Yeah, 605 00:52:22.599 --> 00:52:29.239 and I think it sounds a nice Asians Asians working for Asian in Asian cooperation 606 00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:34.239 for Asian defense. Oh yeah, I hope, I hope it blossoms and 607 00:52:36.039 --> 00:52:39.719 you know, India is another one of those countries that has the potential to 608 00:52:39.840 --> 00:52:47.559 really go gangbusters if they would turn themselves loose. And to answer least question, 609 00:52:47.599 --> 00:52:52.639 I don't know if the Indians are ever going to give up dealing with 610 00:52:52.840 --> 00:52:55.760 their Russian equipment. I don't you know that. Maybe that's just part of 611 00:52:55.760 --> 00:53:01.360 their effort to be neutral where they need a number of of MiGs and sukois 612 00:53:01.440 --> 00:53:08.559 and and they are they give the Russians their hypersonic missile system, the Promos 613 00:53:08.639 --> 00:53:15.320 missile system. I don't know, but they have the decades relationship with the 614 00:53:15.440 --> 00:53:20.480 Russians in that regard. They get they do get a good deal because I 615 00:53:20.519 --> 00:53:24.920 believe the Indians are paying hard cash and the Indians are one of the few 616 00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:30.920 people that's buying Russian fuel in bulk in volume right now. So again, 617 00:53:31.039 --> 00:53:36.639 India aggressive neutral, but they don't have to be our friends as long as 618 00:53:36.639 --> 00:53:39.800 they're not our enemies. Uh, they'll they'll have the habit they have. 619 00:53:40.960 --> 00:53:45.360 I can't blame them because there are a lot of those real nasty wards that 620 00:53:45.400 --> 00:53:50.320 India fought against Pakistan. You know, we were we were back in the 621 00:53:50.360 --> 00:53:52.360 Pakistanis and giving them lots of weapons. So there are a lot of Indians 622 00:53:52.360 --> 00:53:57.360 who are dead on American weapons, and during the Cold War they were one 623 00:53:57.400 --> 00:54:00.159 of the leaders of the non aligned movement trying to triangulate, And of course 624 00:54:00.199 --> 00:54:06.239 they're part of the bricks. But I think the reality of an aggressive China 625 00:54:06.440 --> 00:54:09.800 is what's drawing them to be, if nothing else, just a little more 626 00:54:09.880 --> 00:54:19.760 friendly and opening to us, which is advantageous for us because we are they 627 00:54:19.760 --> 00:54:25.280 are now. I think they've finally surpassed the Chinese and population, their economy 628 00:54:25.440 --> 00:54:30.559 is steadily grown. They have challenges, but they are the world's largest democracy. 629 00:54:30.320 --> 00:54:34.719 They are more of a natural friends than they are a natural alive. 630 00:54:34.880 --> 00:54:42.119 We really don't have any competing interests. They've that opposed us, a lot 631 00:54:42.119 --> 00:54:45.639 of historical baggage to work through in habits to a certain extent, but it's 632 00:54:45.679 --> 00:54:50.880 good to have friends like that. And I'll put a link on the show 633 00:54:50.880 --> 00:54:54.360 page later and when I take a break off, I can't put it in 634 00:54:54.400 --> 00:55:02.039 the chat room. But last week mckinseley Eglan had an article out multiple guests 635 00:55:02.239 --> 00:55:06.559 on mckin dieguin. I've had the pleasure of meeting a person. She's so 636 00:55:06.559 --> 00:55:09.079 smart, she's so good, but she really knows the budget real well, 637 00:55:09.280 --> 00:55:15.280 and what she looked at is really the operative thing. Everybody who's been looking 638 00:55:15.320 --> 00:55:20.079 at refinancing or get on mortgage, now they know that we're inflation of heck, 639 00:55:20.119 --> 00:55:22.760 as you go to go to the grocery store or you try to go 640 00:55:22.800 --> 00:55:27.000 to Chick fil A, no inflation is an issue. And she looked at 641 00:55:27.039 --> 00:55:30.039 the buying power of our budgets, military budgets, and even though on paper 642 00:55:30.079 --> 00:55:37.679 it looks like it's increasing, but the numbers that she's worked and she's over 643 00:55:37.719 --> 00:55:43.119 at AI now is over the next physical year, the US military is ninety 644 00:55:43.199 --> 00:55:51.119 billion in the hole on buying power because of inflation. So physical year twenty 645 00:55:51.159 --> 00:55:54.199 twenty four from a buying power point of view, the budgets roughly the same 646 00:55:54.239 --> 00:55:59.199 as it is twenty twenty. So our budgets, our flat line if not 647 00:55:59.320 --> 00:56:02.679 falling back again because they're not keeping pace of inflation, and it's probably how 648 00:56:02.679 --> 00:56:07.679 going to increase anytime soon. So this network of alliances that we're building, 649 00:56:08.079 --> 00:56:13.320 I'm not about to go full Mike Mullin thousand shift Navy concept or anything, 650 00:56:13.840 --> 00:56:19.800 but when you look at the larger trends, are we making more friends than 651 00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.519 enemies? And are our friends brings up to the table, if not in 652 00:56:24.599 --> 00:56:31.280 wartime, at least keeping our potential opponent, their competitors looking not just over 653 00:56:31.320 --> 00:56:35.440 their shoulder at us, looking over at their other shoulder at somebody else. 654 00:56:36.280 --> 00:56:42.599 And I think that relationship with India is going to pay dividends in that regard, 655 00:56:42.639 --> 00:56:45.079 because if a nation really does have a bone to pick and a border 656 00:56:45.159 --> 00:56:52.000 dispute with China, they could do some damage to the India. Yeah, 657 00:56:52.119 --> 00:56:58.840 I think people tend to forget that China does have fairly substantial order with China 658 00:56:59.119 --> 00:57:04.840 and they haven't gotten along in China's killed Indian soldiers and you know, it's 659 00:57:04.840 --> 00:57:12.119 an ugly, ugly relationship up there on those northern borders. You know. 660 00:57:12.880 --> 00:57:17.199 I'm sure that's what Indians they would like us to, if not at least 661 00:57:17.199 --> 00:57:20.599 on their side, at least not get in their way if they decided to 662 00:57:20.639 --> 00:57:23.119 do something. And they've got the systems and technology to do whatever they want. 663 00:57:23.840 --> 00:57:28.400 So it's a it's a it's a rising power, and rising power are 664 00:57:28.440 --> 00:57:31.639 always interesting. But yeah, I'll talk about Egglan's article. I thought, 665 00:57:31.679 --> 00:57:37.320 I mean, she just hammered the you know, this this budget, it's 666 00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:45.079 almost a Potentican village. Let's see it says the twenty twenty two National Defense 667 00:57:45.079 --> 00:57:50.079 Strategy may reiterate familiar points, but the administration's budget request is only masquerading is 668 00:57:50.199 --> 00:57:53.039 robust. In reality, the military will continue to shrink an age under this 669 00:57:53.079 --> 00:57:57.960 program, and the promise that vaunted future, if it ever rise, will 670 00:57:58.000 --> 00:58:07.159 not be until after this team leaves off. Wow. Yeah, she did 671 00:58:07.159 --> 00:58:08.519 not mince worse with that. That's good. We need, you know, 672 00:58:09.000 --> 00:58:15.079 direct communications, so to speak. Is the budgetary environment, It's always going 673 00:58:15.079 --> 00:58:20.320 to be a challenge this decade for a variety of reasons. But I don't 674 00:58:20.360 --> 00:58:24.960 think what a lot of people took into consideration is the impact of inflation, 675 00:58:25.480 --> 00:58:32.920 because we really haven't had to deal with a inflationary environment from a budgetary point 676 00:58:32.920 --> 00:58:37.440 of view in a decade. There's a lot of people who've lost not just 677 00:58:37.840 --> 00:58:43.079 the you know, on both a personal and a national level, they've lost 678 00:58:43.119 --> 00:58:46.840 the ability to conceptualize that. It's like, I'm I'm getting one hundred dollars 679 00:58:46.880 --> 00:58:51.239 for Christmas this year. Next year, I'm going to get one hundred and 680 00:58:51.320 --> 00:58:55.000 five dollars. But that hundred and five dollars is only going to buy what 681 00:58:55.280 --> 00:59:00.400 last year ninety dollars would have bought you, So you're not getting five dollars, 682 00:59:00.400 --> 00:59:05.360 you're actually getting ten dollars less that understanding that concept and being able to 683 00:59:05.400 --> 00:59:08.360 translate that into your planning what you think you're able to buy. That's why 684 00:59:08.800 --> 00:59:13.960 I saw I always giggle with the thirty years ship building plan. There's like, 685 00:59:14.199 --> 00:59:17.039 we just call it a three years shipbuilding plan because I will trust anything 686 00:59:17.079 --> 00:59:22.719 passed, so I will look at FY twenty four, twenty five, twenty 687 00:59:22.760 --> 00:59:25.400 six, twenty seven, you go two palm cycles and change. That might 688 00:59:25.440 --> 00:59:29.599 give you a view of what's actually going to happen, but anything beyond that 689 00:59:29.679 --> 00:59:32.800 in the quote out years unquote, you really can't. You can't plan. 690 00:59:34.000 --> 00:59:38.199 You can aspire to it. But I think a while ago I posted something 691 00:59:38.239 --> 00:59:43.519 on Twitter. It was the two thousand and seven thirty years Shipbuilding Plan. 692 00:59:43.639 --> 00:59:46.920 It's a it's a parallel universe Today's twenty twenty three compared to what they thought 693 00:59:47.119 --> 00:59:52.480 twenty twenty three would actually look like. And I think people need to take 694 00:59:52.480 --> 00:59:54.599 consideration of that when they go, well, you know, things are going 695 00:59:54.639 --> 00:59:57.599 to be kind of tough here for a few years, but it's gonna be 696 00:59:57.599 --> 01:00:00.840 a much better in thirty thirty seven and twenty thirty. It don't work that 697 01:00:00.920 --> 01:00:07.519 way. And when you look at I think I think one of the things 698 01:00:07.519 --> 01:00:09.639 she points out in the article is that the amount of free money, i 699 01:00:09.639 --> 01:00:15.159 mean money that is not already obligated in the defense budget is unbelievably small. 700 01:00:15.199 --> 01:00:21.639 Everybody thinks that we have this this huge defense budget, but when you look 701 01:00:21.639 --> 01:00:24.400 at the actual numbers, someone us already committed and some of an areas where 702 01:00:24.400 --> 01:00:28.320 we probably shouldn't be spending money. I mean, she has a piece in 703 01:00:28.360 --> 01:00:31.719 there about from somebody else quoting, you know, why are we bothering with 704 01:00:34.760 --> 01:00:40.599 medical research and stuff that really belongs in it under the hundred different government entity. 705 01:00:40.800 --> 01:00:45.039 And but you know, there is this it's just a wee bit of 706 01:00:45.079 --> 01:00:50.599 money available to have fun with, and it gets that gets eaten by the 707 01:00:50.639 --> 01:00:57.760 fact that we have this spiraling inflation which is killing us right now. And 708 01:00:57.800 --> 01:01:00.679 that's right, there's some stuff in the defense budget that does belong there, 709 01:01:00.719 --> 01:01:05.519 but that's the quarters in the couch cushion type of thing fights the money you 710 01:01:05.559 --> 01:01:08.719 have in this safe and it's kind of nice. I'm not going to go 711 01:01:08.840 --> 01:01:14.239 full blake Herzinger on us here, but I also like where she put the 712 01:01:14.320 --> 01:01:15.880 numbers out there. You know, the Navy does actually get the largest flights 713 01:01:15.880 --> 01:01:21.239 of the pie marginally two hundred and three billion. The Army gets one hundred 714 01:01:21.239 --> 01:01:23.480 and eighty six billion, the Air Force get one hundred and eighty five billion. 715 01:01:24.360 --> 01:01:28.840 And if you want a larger navy or you want to lauge your air 716 01:01:28.840 --> 01:01:37.480 force and you're going to have steady to slightly declining purchasing power budgets over the 717 01:01:37.519 --> 01:01:40.000 rest of the decade or whatever, that money is going to have to come 718 01:01:40.039 --> 01:01:47.519 from somewhere, which means you have to really do an almost baseline restruction of 719 01:01:47.559 --> 01:01:54.519 our national strategy East of Suez type stuff to a certain extent. You know 720 01:01:54.559 --> 01:02:00.199 what, what can we do? I know they're you know, Brian McGrath 721 01:02:00.199 --> 01:02:04.440 and stuff like that. He doesn't like how that conversation where you have your 722 01:02:04.440 --> 01:02:07.960 strategy meet your budget, You tell people what your strategy is and you get 723 01:02:07.960 --> 01:02:10.639 the budget to go get it. I appreciate that and I wish it happened 724 01:02:10.679 --> 01:02:15.400 that way. But that may work in war, but in peace, when 725 01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:22.079 you have divided government like we do, it's not the lot to be making 726 01:02:22.159 --> 01:02:30.079 demands on the hill where one party has a margin of twelve seats and one 727 01:02:30.199 --> 01:02:35.679 House and two seats and the other. It's really hard to push things that 728 01:02:35.840 --> 01:02:38.800 change things radically. So what do you do with that? Yeah? How 729 01:02:38.800 --> 01:02:44.000 many more billions could you get from the from the army inside of our present 730 01:02:44.079 --> 01:02:49.760 structure? Probably not much. That's going to require a one hundred pound head 731 01:02:50.079 --> 01:02:53.559 type of routine. And it's on speaking of Brian as a lot of listeners 732 01:02:53.559 --> 01:02:59.880 know, he was nominated along with mckinseley, Egland and a few other people 733 01:03:00.559 --> 01:03:04.920 to this future of the Navy Commission that was supposed to be fully rounded out 734 01:03:05.960 --> 01:03:10.159 in May. And this is just an observational point of view. This is 735 01:03:10.199 --> 01:03:14.639 not a partisan comment. I'm not trying to make this partisan anyway. The 736 01:03:14.760 --> 01:03:17.719 Republicans have put their nomins forward, the Democrats have not, So half of 737 01:03:17.760 --> 01:03:22.639 the committee hasn't in the named yet and we're already six weeks behind the deadline 738 01:03:22.679 --> 01:03:28.239 to get it started. I'll let other people decide for themselves why that's taking 739 01:03:28.280 --> 01:03:31.119 place. Unfortunately, I think what that has done, and it was kind 740 01:03:31.119 --> 01:03:35.800 of excited when we had that opportunity to have the future in the Navy Commission. 741 01:03:35.920 --> 01:03:40.480 Commissions have a limited utility historically, but They're nice to have because they're 742 01:03:40.480 --> 01:03:45.000 conversation starters. There's been an opportunity for some really smart people. And the 743 01:03:45.039 --> 01:03:49.159 other two people who are nominated, who names are I can't pull off the 744 01:03:49.199 --> 01:03:53.960 top of my head. They're of equal quality of mackenzie and Brian, and 745 01:03:54.000 --> 01:03:58.159 I'm sure the Democrats would nominate. I've seen a couple of names floated around 746 01:03:58.159 --> 01:04:01.039 because you don't know until they're nominated are going to be of equal quality folks. 747 01:04:01.880 --> 01:04:06.280 That would have been a great conversation starter to talk about what our navy 748 01:04:06.320 --> 01:04:11.800 could be and how we could possibly find funding to do that. And having 749 01:04:11.880 --> 01:04:15.599 mckinsley there, who is one of the best minds on the defense budget of 750 01:04:15.639 --> 01:04:20.440 any stripe around, on that committee, I think would have that touch of 751 01:04:20.559 --> 01:04:27.760 budgetary realism to it. Hopefully we'll have those nominations and we'll see this commission 752 01:04:27.760 --> 01:04:30.960 come out some time but wain end of the decade. But again, it's 753 01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:36.679 another lost opportunity to have an intellectual discussion of what direction we need to go 754 01:04:36.760 --> 01:04:41.360 to. And if for any of our Democrat friends out there on the hill 755 01:04:41.400 --> 01:04:45.960 who may be listening, if y'all could help move that along, that'd be 756 01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:48.800 great. Y'll have some smart people on your side of the aisle that I 757 01:04:48.960 --> 01:04:55.199 know could really help us get a nice talking point coming out of that commission. 758 01:04:56.000 --> 01:04:59.880 And once again, you know, we waste so much money in our 759 01:05:00.239 --> 01:05:02.920 government, and if you see the recent numbers that come out on the amount 760 01:05:02.960 --> 01:05:08.800 of money that seems to be missing as a result of the COVID giveaways and 761 01:05:08.880 --> 01:05:13.719 things, you know that it's just astonishing that we are nicolondam in our defense 762 01:05:14.559 --> 01:05:16.039 at a time when we have more threats than ever. I mean, the 763 01:05:16.400 --> 01:05:23.000 North Korean's just launched an ICBM that has the potential to reach the US West 764 01:05:23.079 --> 01:05:27.960 coast, you know, and there their leadership is not exactly the most rational 765 01:05:28.000 --> 01:05:31.199 around. So unless they're looking for some kind of bribery scheme where we pay 766 01:05:31.239 --> 01:05:34.440 them not to blow us up, I don't. I don't. I wouldn't 767 01:05:34.440 --> 01:05:39.079 trust them too much at this point. But you know, we have these 768 01:05:39.119 --> 01:05:43.559 other issues. You've got to do something, So Yeah, the Hermit Kingdom 769 01:05:44.000 --> 01:05:48.320 was kind of cute and fund who make interesting comments about from a distance, 770 01:05:49.280 --> 01:05:58.840 but insular societies like that that are it really is degenerated to almost a medieval 771 01:05:58.920 --> 01:06:04.199 absolute monarchy from the Kim family that you're right if they have that ability, 772 01:06:04.599 --> 01:06:13.639 who knows what paranoid thought might come into some very imperfect human being, Like 773 01:06:13.679 --> 01:06:18.159 we're all imperfect, and there's nobody in their structure that is going to say 774 01:06:18.199 --> 01:06:24.239 no to the Supreme leader. Is one Tuesday afternoon, you've got four or 775 01:06:24.280 --> 01:06:29.039 five missiles for reasons, who knows, heading out on the Great Circle route 776 01:06:29.039 --> 01:06:32.320 on Europe, and you really hope those facilities we have an Alaska work you 777 01:06:32.360 --> 01:06:36.400 know, what do you what do you do with that? A modern you 778 01:06:36.440 --> 01:06:44.000 know, the bombs that we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Who those are 779 01:06:44.079 --> 01:06:48.360 tactical nukes almost compared to what even the North Koreans can build today. And 780 01:06:48.519 --> 01:06:54.039 that's one of those nightmare scenarios you don't like to think about. But I'm 781 01:06:54.039 --> 01:06:57.760 glad you brought it up, because it's no longer a theoretical capability, even 782 01:06:57.800 --> 01:07:00.119 if they only have four or five. You know, you can say what 783 01:07:00.159 --> 01:07:04.480 you want to about the Russians or the Chinese, or the Indians, or 784 01:07:04.480 --> 01:07:09.280 the Pakistanians, or the Israelis or the French or the British, but they 785 01:07:09.320 --> 01:07:15.760 have pretty good command to control and checks and balances on their systems. I 786 01:07:15.840 --> 01:07:21.840 don't think the North Koreans. They have, they have developed over the course 787 01:07:21.840 --> 01:07:30.199 of decades, a civil society that nobody has really seen since the at best, 788 01:07:30.280 --> 01:07:33.639 the late Middle Ages. It's it's not a pleasant thought. I don't 789 01:07:33.679 --> 01:07:38.519 know how you control those things are, whether you even have much indications and 790 01:07:38.639 --> 01:07:43.280 warnings. Besides, I believe they're all liquid fueled, and you would get 791 01:07:43.320 --> 01:07:46.039 some indications that they might be getting ready for a launch, But you know, 792 01:07:46.119 --> 01:07:50.400 what's what's our UDA loop to stop them from launching. I don't think 793 01:07:50.559 --> 01:07:56.360 it's that tight or war gained out enough that we'd be they would launch and 794 01:07:56.400 --> 01:08:03.920 then we would know, Well, those you just sm six ships better better 795 01:08:04.000 --> 01:08:09.280 be on alert all the time now in that area. So yeah, well, 796 01:08:09.480 --> 01:08:13.360 I guess I guess we've used up our houring chains with a very positive, 797 01:08:13.719 --> 01:08:19.239 strange loving point. At least they don't have a doomsday with or Tuesday. 798 01:08:20.119 --> 01:08:24.000 Oh well, we're on the East coast, you know, you know 799 01:08:24.479 --> 01:08:28.039 San Andreas fault line gets hit by a hundred megatons. I'm not sure what 800 01:08:28.119 --> 01:08:31.920 that'll do do it. I think there's been that nothing Class one. They're 801 01:08:32.039 --> 01:08:36.239 James Bond movie about that. I can't remember. Yeah, well, hey, 802 01:08:36.439 --> 01:08:42.319 yeah again my illustrious wife made the fun comment I've heard other people make 803 01:08:42.359 --> 01:08:45.600 as well. It's like, how do we find ourselves in the third decade, 804 01:08:45.600 --> 01:08:50.960 the twenty first century, and these comical Bond villains actually exist? We 805 01:08:51.079 --> 01:08:55.399 get all these workers. It's like, you know, you have a good 806 01:08:55.399 --> 01:08:57.920 point that we do have some people out there who kind of like a Bond 807 01:08:58.000 --> 01:09:01.239 villain that we used to laugh about teen seventy eight, but we don't. 808 01:09:01.319 --> 01:09:09.239 We don't have any orbiting space stations yet. But are I thought that Chinese 809 01:09:09.239 --> 01:09:12.680 had putting one up of there are getting ready to put up their own orbiting 810 01:09:12.720 --> 01:09:18.520 space station. You know it? Just I don't I think we should ban 811 01:09:18.800 --> 01:09:24.079 fiction writers some coming with these great ideas to give the bad guys. We're 812 01:09:24.119 --> 01:09:30.800 talking about you Claude exactly. I don't know understanding, but Claude listens to 813 01:09:31.159 --> 01:09:33.880 a lot of our our mid rats, and maybe I think he might be 814 01:09:33.920 --> 01:09:40.359 with us live um staying out of the heat in Annapolis. But it's like 815 01:09:40.359 --> 01:09:45.119 the writing boat joke. We ever Claude writes a novel that, okay, 816 01:09:45.159 --> 01:09:46.239 then that's a part of the world be to look at. Because he started 817 01:09:46.279 --> 01:09:49.479 with Yemen, right with all that kicked off and then we had the issues 818 01:09:49.479 --> 01:09:55.479 with Sri Lanka and with his latest novel as well. If people haven't haven't 819 01:09:57.159 --> 01:10:00.560 read it yet, you can find a click from last week weeks episode. 820 01:10:00.600 --> 01:10:06.680 We have a link to all of Claude's novels and just a reminder if you 821 01:10:08.239 --> 01:10:12.479 if you didn't check it, go to last week's show and all the books 822 01:10:12.520 --> 01:10:17.399 that we mentioned. You can go to the show page on don't don't go 823 01:10:17.479 --> 01:10:21.439 to blog talk, go to spreaker or iTunes or anything to get to the 824 01:10:21.479 --> 01:10:26.880 podcast feed and it has all linked to all the books that we recommend it 825 01:10:26.920 --> 01:10:29.840 for you to absorb your summer and you'll find Claude's books there as well. 826 01:10:31.199 --> 01:10:38.359 I guess we're saying goodbye then I think so, well, Hey, everybody, 827 01:10:38.520 --> 01:10:42.159 we appreciate y'all coming in. We had a good show and in the 828 01:10:42.239 --> 01:10:45.680 chat room today we had about eight people there. We appreciate y'all coming along 829 01:10:45.720 --> 01:10:49.359 today, and we will have a show next week, but then we're taking 830 01:10:49.399 --> 01:10:53.760 the thirtyf off and then before you know it, it'll be August. So 831 01:10:54.399 --> 01:10:58.000 thank you very much everybody for join us. And until next week. I 832 01:10:58.119 --> 01:11:11.239 hope y'all have a great navy here Molly wrote, I need to reply to 833 01:11:11.359 --> 01:11:18.039 haring Maddy all king like my lonely want to marry me and love. Leave 834 01:11:18.119 --> 01:11:25.560 the brand that PCT believe for your being to blame my love, I fly 835 01:11:25.720 --> 01:11:34.039 to WoT me silly faulting your the dame. It's a long way to differ. 836 01:11:35.720 --> 01:11:43.279 It's a long way to go. It's a long way to differ. 837 01:11:45.239 --> 01:11:58.520 The greenest I know. Don't by piccaling fawell listen to It's a long long 838 01:11:58.720 --> 01:12:04.880 way to get my way, But my mind, my bo