The Skipper Discusses the USS America: Shaping an Innovative Path to 21st Century Operations

06/29/2014
2014-06-20 On June 12, 2014, Second Line of Defense visited the USS America at the Ingalls Huntington shipyard in Pascagoula Mississippi. The ship is to leave mid July for its initial homeport of San Diego and will travel around South America and visit along the way. In addition to VIP…

Admiral Manazir on the Impact of Global Partnerships for Deterrence in Depth

06/27/2014
2014-06-2 In a recent interview with the well-known China expert and Forbes columnist, Gordon Chang, Rear Admiral Manazir, the head of naval warfare,  highlighted the importance of global partnerships to meet the challenges the military and security challenges facing the US in the 21st century. As Chang put the basic…

An Update from Iraq: Late June 2014

06/24/2014
2014-06-24 Last week, one of our SLD colleagues received this message from an American in Iraq about the situation at that time. Huge stockpiles of US armor, weapons, heavy artillery, mortars, armored vehicles, tanks, the entire main weapons depot and the main helicopter base, have been captured, mostly intact, by…

Ready on Arrival: The USS Bush CBG and Iraq

06/22/2014
2014-06-22 By Ed Timperlake In 1966 the US Navy made a short movie about what was then called an “Attack Carrier.” The movie describes going to flight quarters and conducting combat air operations from an aircraft carrier off Vietnam. The political maneuvering by a President and Secretary of Defense who…