#surface warfare officer thanks for trying though

[wanderingwolpertinger]

Gotta Catch ‘Em All except it’s US military branches trying to recruit me

[unnamedelement]

even the WORDS studio ghibli steampunk inspired 4th age au is intriguing to me - I’d love to hear more about it!

I am so pleased you asked and I will talk about it forever. Basically, the idea is just something I write on--a paragraph or two here or there--when I'm feeling down and need a pick-me-up, though I haven't done so since May now as I've been so busy! It's set in a 4th Age Middle-earth in which all the basic things are the same, except that the technology advanced slightly differently, as if every major cultural and intellectual hub in history hadn't been wiped out in the first two ages. I mean, they have been, but the ideas were revisited and propagated instead. Which puts us in a bit of a steam era, a bit more modern warfare, I suppose (I imagine it as, like, Legend of Korra equivalent technology, but subtracting the radio broadcasting). I call it Studio Ghibli inspired because, in my head, thats the way its "animated," with similar color palettes to, say, Howls' Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, and Spirited Away. The same sort of observational attention to detail, but not overwrought, and an air of the magical in the every day... It's really just a domestic sort of thing, with an added twist of the Straight Road being shut for purposes that aren't entirely clear to me yet but, somehow, tie into the technological aspect. It, at least, explains to me why the elves are so goddamn committed to technology and Middle-earth in the 4th age, in this universe, in a way that aren't in non-AUs because, well, Tolkien. The lore of this ridiculous sandbox is only very slowly evolving, but giving elves unresolvable sealonging is a certain type of hurt/comfort that is highly attractive to me. Whoops. And it is Legolas- and OC-focused, of course, because that's just who I am as a person. There is also a university in Minas Tirith because I say so, and because I need to project my woes about academia somewhere, but I try to justify this to myself by tying it into that preservation and propogation of knowledge aspect. Anyway, that was way more than you asked for! Ah well. Here is the first scene I ever wrote in this AU, because I've never actually shared it publicly, I don't think. I believe @roselightfairy has been the only one privy to my nonsensical AU drafts thus far! I usually just ramble about it in tags, but you caught me this time, ha. Thanks again for asking!

Legolas twisted the ring on his index finger distractedly as he waited for the train. It had been a long day in Minas Tirith and he was ready to return to Ithilien, to take in the rolling plains that edged the river as they flew past, for it was always only then that he could reflect, in uninterrupted silence, without hobbit tourists at his heels or the accidental shove of an impatient lady in the shops.

There were too many people in Minas Tirith for Legolas. Accordingly, and much to Aragorn and Gimli’s chagrin, it was not his favorite place.

But they understood, and that was all he could ask. He tried to schedule all of the city errands on the same day or two, because longer than thirty-six continuous hours in Minas Tirith and he became an absolute nightmare with which to coexist. For the most part, his friends and family had accepted this and he was trying, after all, but that did not make it any less obnoxious for the rest of them.

It did not help that the only place in Gondor with Sealonging-certified healers was on the fourth level of the city. A wildly insensitive choice, in his opinion, though he kept that perspective well enough to himself after Ithildim and Gimli had tried to advocate, a few years before, for the relocation of the clinic to the Healing Houses on the Sixth, in a string of rejected proposals at City Council.

Gimli would not look at Aragorn for a month after that, and so Legolas had quit his whingeing and suffered in silence the abrupt buffeting that occurred in the busy streets after his appointments. He made it his own prerogative to schedule at the end of the day so he could spend the morning with enough wherewithal to do his errands and take care of whatever sundry things he had managed to commit himself to. It kept him relatively sane and it kept his friends on speaking terms and, so, that is what he did. (And it was not as if any of them had control over the West-way being shut, so there was no point in any of them falling out over it.)

Legolas heard the heavy-huffing of the train approaching long before its lights rounded the bend of the river. He preferred to walk to the stop at the Docks than get on at the Gates because it gave his mind time to settle. Waiting that close to the river after therapy was, perhaps, not his brightest idea, but the pros outweighed the cons and what Ithildim didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

Besides, it was Summer, and the cattails were up again all around the station, and a family of osprey had made the light pole by the river their nest, and it did lift his spirits to watch these things alone as the world moved on about him...

A few more people rushed the small platform as the rumbling of the train on its little steel bridge above the banks increased. Legolas only readjusted his ring, unbuckled the satchel in his lap and rummaged around for the hardtack he had bartered for Ewessel. (She would have no idea how many pieces were there originally—what she didn’t know also wouldn’t hurt her). He was just tugging on the pair of oversized leather earmuffs Gimli had given him a few years prior when he started taking the train routinely when two pairs of very familiar shoes suddenly appeared in his line of sight, and he froze—

There was no point in hurrying—he had been found out so he adjusted his earmuffs and tucked the hardtack into his cheek, noticing vaguely that the sturdier pair of boots were well-shined and dirtless, while the more slender, elvish ones were caked in mud along the edges and splashed up the shins.

He had thought Ithildim was in the Emyn Arnen buildings today. He had seen him head off that way through the trees and he had obviously been there for that was forest mud and yet here he stood with Gimli, clearly just come from their Minas Tirith office so...

He had apparently been wrong. It would not be the first time he had lost track of other people’s schedules.

The train rolled up slowly, then, and Legolas finally looked up from his seat on the bench to find Gimli at eye level—glaring at him with arms crossed—and then, looking further up, was Ithildim—hair neatly pinned back despite his other uncharacteristic untidiness—and he looked down on him with a bemused and mildly irritated expression.

Legolas did his best to offer a guileless smile.

It did not work, and Ithildim pulled him to his feet. “I thought your appointment was at 4(?), auren.”

“It was,” he said, and he shrugged. He was tired and did not want to talk yet. “I prefer walking the plains for an hour or so after, to calm my mind. I did not know you would be here.”

“You do this every time?” Ithildim asked with eyebrows raised, and then Gimli was chivvying them forward as the train doors opened and the inward-bound commuters poured out and the outward-bound ones moved forward.

“I did not know you would be here,” Legolas only said, shrugging, as they found a small table in the back of the car and piled around it.

Ithildim opened his mouth to ask again but Gimli interrupted—

“That is answer enough, Ithildim,” he said softly. “Leave him be, hm?”

“But—”

“He is always back to himself by the time he gets home, is he not? Let him do what he needs to do. He is his own keeper, Ithildim.”

Legolas was no longer watching them, and he instead stared out the window as the train moved forward and he was rocked slightly as it picked up speed. He did not notice the sound of a crinkling bag or the half sandwich Gimli slid in front of him. He did not notice Ithildim watching him wearily but intermittently as he arranged his notes on the small table, comparing a neat chart to x’s drawn on a map spread across its surface.

Outside, the sun was dipping dark but his mind was far away, and his mouth felt dry as he finally blinked and turned away from the flashing landscape.

Gimli had placed a reassuring hand by his thigh as he leaned over Ithildim’s map, and Ithildim was watching him unashamedly, silver eyes narrowed as Legolas glanced at him.

He pulled a travel mug from his backpack and handed it across the table to him.

“I take medicine for this now, you know,” Legolas said quietly, and he considered the coffee and tilted his head, waiting for Ithildim’s reply.

“I know,” he said immediately. “But you have that look in your eye that you get when…”

“Ithildim, he is his own keeper,” Gimli interrupted firmly, and Ithildim looked away. “That being said, Master Elf, it is summer again—“

“I know that—“

“—and the weather folks are predicting a mighty storm this week, which is probably why you are like this.”

Legolas picked up the coffee without a word and reluctantly drank it, and he twisted his ring again as Gimli continued:

“I’ve told Aragorn again and again that he would be much better served employing you lot for storm prediction than the fellows he has but…” he trailed off, and Legolas smiled.

“But he thinks it is unethical to use a bunch of Sea-longing elves for the protection of king and country, yes,” Legolas finished. “Honestly, those of us who are afflicted are going to suffer whether or not he consults us, so I’ve never understood his reticence.”

Ithildim looked up again and was finally smiling. “You are a bit like a barometer, in that,” he admitted. “Gimli has a point here.”

Legolas laughed. “So, what? We wait until I become uncommunicative and morose and a general pain to be around, and then we send Aragorn a warning letter? What, set smoke signals?”

“This is our stop,” Gimli was saying as he folded up Ithildim’s map and notes and shoved them into his hands. He stood up and gestured at the elves to join him. “Normal people would use the message systems, Legolas, but since you refuse to—”

“Really, Gimli?” Ithildim had pulled Legolas to his feet and was dragging him by the hand out the door. The wind was heavy beneath the eaves of the trees that overhung their stop. “We are lucky he only uses birds. Otherwise it would be constant updates about the exchange rate of rye, or flash-pictures of bread, or flowery descriptions of some lady he met in the gardens!”

As they started down the side path to the houses they shared with Saida and the children Legolas laughed again. “It is mushrooms I am fascinated with right now, Ithildim. It is painfully obvious sometimes that you do not listen when I speak.”

“Mushrooms?” he asked, turning to Gimli.

“That is his current passion project, yes. Have you not been in the downstairs bathroom recently?”

“Thank you, elvellon. I am so relieved someone listens to me.”

“Eru, Legolas, you know the downstairs bathroom is supposed to be for Ewessel so she doesn’t slow anyone else down in the mornings.”

Legolas had walked past them now and was several feet ahead as the main house came into sight. He shrugged and turned, walking backward. “It was her idea, Ithildim. You can take it up with her. I am in her good graces now, and I am not playing with the fire of adolescence to tell her no on your behalf.”

Gimli was laughing now and then Legolas had turned and took off toward the house. By the time they arrived a few minutes later, the lights had all been turned on or lit and Legolas was at the kitchen table with Ewessel herself, helping her with her schoolwork.

He barely looked up as they entered. “Stew on the stove,” he said quietly, and Ithildim sighed to hear the distance in his voice.

The door swung in again as Saida came in with Alfirinion at her heels—

“Smells like rain,” she announced as she slipped off her shoes and dropped her bag to the ground.

Alfirinion was just unloading his bag and armful of books onto the table inside the door when the house shook with a loud crash of thunder, and the building sound of rain—gentle to pounding and persistent��began to beat at the house.

Ewessel looked at Legolas, who had gone still beside her, and turned to her family. “I have known for days it would rain tonight. He is better than any weather report, if you are paying attention.”

“Ewessel,” Saida said with quiet admonishment, and she walked up and pressed a kiss to her niece’s forehead before settling down beside Legolas. “How about an early night?” she said to him quietly. “We can talk about our project tomorrow evening.”

Legolas cleared his throat and looked at his hands. “Yes, I think that would be good. The table isn’t…”

“Ewessel will set the table, won’t she?” Saida said lightly, and Ewessel closed her ledger and sprang to her feet. The dining room and kitchen were suddenly in motion and Legolas sat silent in his seat, until he dropped his head, defeated, into his hands, waiting for the sound of the rain to stop sounding like the crashing of waves at the shore.

“Tell us next time you notice, child,” he could hear Saida saying from the stove, and there was muttering under breath before Ewessel and Alfirinion were back in the room, placing a bowl at each seat.

There was the scraping of chairs around him, and then the feel of a cool glass pressed against his hand.

“It is just water, Legolas,” Ithildim was saying at his shoulder. “Drink, auren. The wide world is still here.”

And so he drank and ate and listened to his friends talk.

Alfirinion had had an argument with a peer at Rangers (though he had won, because debate team and shadowing Arwen over the summer had apparently paid off), and Ewessel was displeased no one wanted to see her forestry project (which, to be fair, was a log covered in mushrooms she had taken from Legolas’ project in the bathroom, so no one was particularly empathetic). Saida had made progress on curriculum redesign in her department at the main university, and Gimli and Ithildim had gotten clearance to start a project they were partnering on, to bring heated, running water to a new town outside Osgiliath.

Legolas, however, had only made stew. Had run errands for the family and for his business. Had gone to his appointment. Had lost himself to the wind and left his family fumbling.

But the stew was, at least, enjoyed, and that was better than nothing...

After dinner, everyone gathered in the sitting room to listen to Alfirinion practice his closing arguments for his competition and, eventually, Legolas fell asleep between Ithildim and Gimli on the couch. The last thing he was aware of was someone slipping headphones over his ears and dropping the needle on the phonograph so his senses were flooded with crackling birdsong, and then there was a blanket about his shoulders, and he was gone.

[tyrannicaldoritodust]

The Vortian Revolution Canon

Everything started simple.

Three fingers.

Three toes.

Glimpses here and there of what could be developing into what was.

I never intended to write an autobiography, so I’ll keep this short and move past the formalities as I let my hands write for me and my body go on autopilot to see where we end up. I was hatched in the Naphrus region of Irk with a group of thousands, moving on to the Academy after my basic training to study Military Science and Advanced Drone Warfare. I loved it, the fire, the freedom, the feeling of blood rushing through my body as I obliterated targets. I met Purple there. We were bunk mates for a while before he was transferred to a different unit but we still maintained a friendship with one another at a distance. Zim was a good soldier from what I could tell, his innovations blowing away our squad leader and consistently getting him in trouble. I, on the other hand, excelled in the physical, while I lacked in things like mathematical knowledge and scientific understanding. That was Purple’s area of expertise.

I graduated from the Academy with commendations along with many of my squad, moving on to fly drills for the Armada as a cadet and working hard to rise through the ranks to eventually stop at the rank of Commander before I would be called before the Control Brains for a PAK evaluation and physical following the death of our then Tallest Spork. It was decided that I was unfit to rule alone because of my unstable emotional control. I protested and was reprimanded, eventually ascending to office with my good friend, Purple, when he was chosen as second Tallest for his diplomacy and ability to draft social programs. We divided the Empire equally; I was put in charge of ruling over the military, foreign relations, and the economy, while Purple was placed in charge of social programs, domestic and public relations, and scientific explorations. He was always the creative type, and taught me how to paint in my free time, even though I was never any good at it.

Eventually, we decided to pick up where former Tallest Spork was lacking in his ability to rule. We opened a new wave of expansion over our immediate star system and claimed several planets; Callnowia, Hypatia 3, Conventia, performing Organic Sweeps over the surface of each and taking them in the name of the Irken Empire. We ramped up cloning production in underground Smeeteries to ensure a steady stream of soldiers for the coming invasions of Operation Impending Doom. Purple had suggested we branch out to take more difficult targets for resources and free imports; Boodie Nen, Meekrob, Dilantis, and the like were all pegged for conquest.

At the moment, I don’t have much recollection of the events of Impending Doom beyond the horrendous destruction that followed and the rampant homelessness Purple was forced to deal with as the capitol city of Veloria was nearly destroyed by the actions of a small rebel faction headed by then Invader Zim before his exile. He was eager and excited, asking my co-Tallest and I for information regarding the coming invasions which we both initially refused. His security clearance eventually passed inspection and he was granted selective use of Viral Tank technology, which he proceeded to destroy on the surface of our own planet.

After the first exile of Zim to Foodcourtia, Purple and I tried to build our intergalactic credibility in the Intergalactic Board of Empires, quickly stepping away from the peace group altogether when regimes continued to topple to our own hands and ships. We made enemies, shattered alliances, and entered a freefall neither one of us knew was coming. Operation Impending Doom II was supposed to be our chance to reclaim our galaxy in the name of the Irkens who once ruled it millions of cycles ago, wanting nothing more than to take what was rightfully ours. What we didn’t realize at the time was that what you take, you have to manage. Neither one of us was ready to handle an empire so incredibly expansive, quickly losing track of the resources and munitions our invaders, Elite, and military needed to maintain their foothold on the rapidly slipping front. As Zim was exiled to Earth, we sent several others out to surrounding planets initially as scouts meant to run recon, deciding to open yet another wave of imperialism despite our own liminality and instability. Invader Skoodge was the first to claim the planet of Blorch, then Invader Larb claimed Vort. The fall of the Vortian monarchy was the worst decision we could have made and I immediately feared the threat of a coup when the citizens of the planet rebelled and took several Irken strongholds on the surface. The Vortian race as a whole was moved off planet to select military prisons while some remained behind for military research of my own design, something I now deeply regret looking back on the past.

Eventually, Purple and I were married after we decided to solidify cycles of the obvious. Our relationship was one of the things that kept me going through the mountains of paperwork and dockets flashing over our readers. I wanted him, and for a long while, that’s all that mattered. Of course, we would both die in our three hundreds when the Massive was stormed in the middle of the Meekrob star system by a rebel alliance formed from the fallen and deprived our Empire kicked to the cosmos and had forgotten about. I don’t remember the Vortian’s name who lead them to their disgusting victory, but I remember the sheer numbers they had amassed. With no way to hail reinforcements on Irk, we were subjected to a hostile takeover and our ship was stormed. There was no way for any of us to take an escape pod without getting picked off outside by waiting Vortian Stingers and rogue Irken Shuuver, the two of us being shot and assassinated on the bridge by Vortian plasma rifles.

Do I regret the takeover of Vort? Yes. If I had known what would happen to my husband and I, to the safety of the Empire, and to the legacy of Irk, I would have thought before I made any hasty decisions. I do not, however, regret the expansion of my Empire. The policy on Earth of “Manifest Destiny” has really resonated with me as I remember my inspiration and drive for what I did for my race. Irk has a historical claim to the entire eastern quadrant of the Universe through original colonization and I was trying to take back what was ours with my partner when our former, albeit powerful, leaders failed and chose diplomacy over action. I have always been a man of action, and if that meant shattering the peace in favor of progress, I would take it.

In my travels as a soul, I do not think, now, that I what I did was right. I don’t fault my past self for doing what they did or even thinking about it today as more and more memories come to the surface for me to try and heal from. I would, on the other hand, like to find my canonmates. I know that you are out there, and I know we need to heal together. If you know anything else about this timeline from a different perspective, if you were part of the Vortian Revolution or the Resisty, or if you think you were personally in touch with me, please feel free to communicate. This is currently all I remember, and all I have remembered for a while. I’d like to think that Purple is alive somewhere and in this reality with me, but I know that is not always the case.

Thank you, and long live the Irken Empire, no matter where we have ended up or where we are going.

[alabasterideal]

Virtuous Mission

@intcrpol

Continued from:

The room was spotless and immaculate, every surface polished to a mirror shine. Elegant and minimalist furnishings were strategically placed in this sterile environment, pleasing to the eye but devoid of any discernible personality. Despite the wealth of open space, Shirogane seemed to take up every inch of it with his presence, oppressive and looming with just the slightest hint of menace, even when seated at his desk. The anemic excuse for a smile pulling at his thin lips spoke of unvoiced disdain, the air of a man who had never once been surprised by anything in his life.

The boy young man helped himself to a glass of incredibly expensive brandy, standing proud and reciting meaningless words with a confidence that was positively gauche.

He supposed Blake deserved his moment after earning the allegiance of the legendary dragon, Zekrom- No small feat, indeed.

“All warfare is based on deception,” Ginjiro replied quietly, steepling long and spidery fingers beneath his chin. “Controlling perceptions is always more efficient and effective than controlling by force. I wouldn’t be so hasty to make assumptions about your enemies, however weak and scattered they appear.”

Whether the Champion would take his advice to heart or not remained to be seen, but with any hope, Blake would exercise more caution in the future. One never could be overly suspicious, simply prepared.

“Did you have anything of value to report, or did you simply miss my glowing hospitality?”

    His cautioning words remind too much of the sages, but for the wrong reasons.  Where they spewed empty platitudes to public to blind them to their true intentions, I know the Inspector is doing nothing but restraining how acerbic his words could be for me.  Considering a young punk like me shouldn’t even know he exists, I consider that quite the courtesy.  He and that eastern general aren’t wrong.  All warfare is based on deception.  By that same token, “the principle on which to manage an army is to set up one standard of courage which all must reach.”

     That’s the reason why I’m stopping myself from visibly retching as the worryingly costly liquor singes my innards.  It’s why I don’t correct people when they call me the Champion, even if I never got the chance to battle Alder myself.  It’s why even though the man who wants me dead has a squad of magical ninjas that can appear from thin air and surround me with out any warning, I’m acting like I’m the king of the world.

     Because right now, in the midst of the turmoil left in the wake of Team Plasma’s offensive, Unova needs a hero.  So long as the legendary dragon of ideals has a say in the matter, that hero’s me and regardless of my own opinion on the matter, I need to act like it.

     I set the glass down on Shirogane’s desk, a remark about coaster usage assuredly on the tip of his tongue as I try to get down to brass tacks as requested.

     “I didn’t want to trouble Looker anymore than I already have, so I came to give my brief to you in person.  As you’ve already been informed, all of the sages of Team Plasma are now in custody... save for one.”

     Looking out the office’s window, I stare down into the bustling streets of Castelia city below us.  Odds are, someone’s down there watching, waiting for me to walk out of the building and see where I’m headed next.  Even with Team Plasma formally disbanded and the majority of the criminal organization behind bars, thanks to their sheer numbers, we couldn’t have got all of them.  There’s no telling how many grunts I personally sweeped are still out there, taking orders from the real problem here.

     Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius used his son to convince nearly the entire Unovan public to release their Pokemon and leave themselves completely defenseless.  As if such an outlandish plan working wasn’t terrifying enough, he left nothing to chance.  His science team would’ve hacked into the PC system and released everyone’s Pokemon by force if I hadn’t smashed up their work space on my way through the castle.  Ghetsis is a cunning, ruthless manipulator, willing to do anything to achieve his goals.  After I derailed a whole childhood’s worth of devious machinations, I can only imagine killing me places somewhat highly on his to-do list.

     I nervously adjust my cap with a heavy sigh as I keep my eyes on the city and its perpetually in-motion populace.  “Ghetsis is still out there.  It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, it might not even be a year from now, but he’s going to hit us again and he’s not going to bother being subtle about it this time.  We need to make sure that Unova will be ready when he does.”

[oscar-isaacs-number-one-bitch]

“Aquaman” Movie Review

Aquaman is DC’s sixth and latest entry into their cinematic universe, and the first since the severely underwhelming box office results of Justice League made us all question whether or not this attempt at replicating Marvel Studios’ success was ever actually going to succeed post-Wonder Woman. This film finds Insidious and Conjuring director James Wan helming the story of Arthur Curry, the son of a lighthouse keeper from Amnesty Bay and the Queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. After the events of Justice League, as well as a submarine rescue in which he encounters the man who will become Black Manta, Arthur returns home to his father. It isn’t long, however, before Princess Mera finds him, and warns him of a coming threat: Arthur’s brother, King Orm, means to declare war on the surface world, and everyone in it. If he is to be stopped, Arthur must put off the grudge he has against his people (whom he has denied because they supposedly killed his mother), and become the hero he is meant to be.

If there were a single word to describe what I felt sitting in the theater watching Aquaman for the first time, I wouldn’t know what it would be. I’ll say ahead of time that Wonder Woman is absolutely still DC’s strongest film to date, but the sheer level of commitment this movie has to its mid-2000’s levels of cheese and pulp give it an affecting charm not too many superhero films find themselves openly sporting in the modern day. Many superhero films, especially when it comes to those put out by either Marvel Studios or Warner Bros, have a particular dispensation towards either hard-hitting emotional drama or outright action comedy, so to see something so bizarre as Aquaman’s singular commitment to its premise that sounds like something a 10-year-old playing with action figures would have written significant portions of is really something quite special to witness.

This is all thanks to the visionary direction of James Wan, a man so adept at building worlds and creating wholly unique atmospheres for actors to play in that he might as well have actually gone underwater to the kingdom of Atlantis just to get some primary location photography. Seriously, the underwater worlds in this thing are genuine stunners with easily the best bioluminescent environments and effects on screen since James Cameron’s Avatar (not that anyone’s really tried all that hard since anyhow). Traveling through the kingdoms of Atlantis, the Brine, etc, is wonderous and somewhat frustrating, but only because you’re taken through it so quickly you never stay long enough to drink in every bit of visual beauty this movie has to offer. But if you thought the visuals and central premise of an Atlantian superhero having to find a trident and fight a war against his brother underwater for the safety of the world is the most absurd thing in Aquaman, you are not prepared for the hurricane that’s about to hit.

About one third of the way through the second act, there are a number of montages that occur all within about ten minutes of each other and feature the only three songs in the entire movie whilst the rest of its runtime is filled with a mostly workable but never-quite-finds-its-footing score from Harry Gregson-Williams. These montages begin with a sort of half-committed Baywatch tribute that features a cover of Africa by Toto (sung by musical artist Rhea), which is mixed in with a rap by Mr. Worldwide himself (Pitbull). Not even half an hour later, the film sports another fantasy tribute by setting a Tangled­-esque scene between Arthur and Mera in a shoreside town near the same beach. It really is quite something to witness this movie simply take a break from itself in the middle of the second act just to play three music video montages in a row and then get right back to the action that brought the characters there.

Speaking of action, this is some of the most unique and kinetic the DC Extended Universe has ever had. Given the premise that most of the fighting in Aquaman is based around one-on-one trident warfare and hand-to-hand combat, what of the action isn’t grandiose superpower grandstanding has to be very up close and personal bow staff style fight choreography, and the way it plays out is a beautiful thing to see. It’s wonderfully edited during the up close and personal stuff, and some of the tracking shots during the larger battles between civilizations are truly some of the best in DC’s pantheon. I suppose if there were any negatives to the action sequences, it would likely be that most of them start the same way, with the characters getting quiet and then an explosion rocking them back to preparedness, which wouldn’t be a problem except that it occurs four or five times throughout the film, thus costing each subsequent surprise attack its effectiveness by making it too much of a habit.

But enough about the action and visually stimulating underwater worlds; how are the characters? A film can have all the spectacle in the world, but without proper character, it’s going to flounder. The characters in Aquaman? They’re…fine. Truth be told, anyone who wasn’t already on board with Jason Momoa’s bro culture rendition of the title character isn’t necessarily going to be won over by his mostly stilted but badass-in-action-scenes performance here, but they do tone down a lot of his more annoying quirks he was introduced with in Justice League, and that should count for something. Momoa is a physically dominant force as Arthur Curry, but whether it was some of the line he was given or because maybe he’s just not been with the right directors yet, his performance here really only reaches dynamic screen presence levels; there’s not a lot of room for nuance in his acting, and while that may be for the best given the kind of performer he is, it does hurt the film a bit overall.

Showing up again as well for round two is Amber Heard as Princess Mera, who more than fits the part as the woman trying to get the reluctant hero to do the hero’s arc because it’s important for him to know he can do it on his own (and she easily has the best costume design in the entire thing), but part of her arc has to do with her relationship to Arthur, and it gets a little confusing because this had supposedly already been covered in Justice League. She does really well for what she’s given to work with, but unfortunately Momoa just doesn’t give off a lot. Also here is veteran Wan-man Patrick Wilson, turning yet another leaf in the journey of acting circles around everyone even with a somewhat messy script to work with. As King Orm, he’s act once fiercely commanding and brilliantly emotive, but he never takes his performance so far as to overshadow Arthur’s main narrative. Willem Dafoe is in…something, but it’s not Aquaman. Seeing him show up as Valko is a real treat to watch, but largely because he’s such an interesting performer, it’s almost like he’s brought back his Norman Osbourne character to teach Jason Momoa how to swim. I’m sure the character probably matters more in the comics, but here, he just feels unnecessary, despite the joy just seeing Willem Dafoe on screen brings.

The unsung hero of this movie, though, at least in terms of performance, is unquestionably Nicole Kidman, who runs the emotional gambit from motherly chiding/affection to kick-ass warrior queen to awestruck-but-terrified literal fish-out-of-water in just her first fifteen minutes of screen time so smoothly and so expertly you’d think she might actually pull an Oscar nomination out of this. She really is having a great year performance-wise between this, Big Little Lies, Boy Erased, and the upcoming Destroyer, and it’s really been quite something to see her come back mid-50’s and show up everyone on any screen she shares by her sheer level of talents and commitment to character. In fact, her part in this movie might not just be the most compelling of the character turns, but also of the plot threads – it actually moved me, and cut right to the heart.

Some negatives about the film (besides what I’ve mentioned already) would include fairly subpar editing and lack of narrative focus; it’s not exactly bad most of the time right up until the second act where the music video montages come in and feel incredibly out of place in this already two and a half hour long movie (that you absolutely do feel the length of during the transition to act three), but it is somewhat off-putting, especially when certain scenes seem to either just start right in the middle of what was probably a longer take, or they’re just strangely placed as if they’re out of order and the editor just forgot about it. It kind of seems like part of the time, it doesn’t know what it wants to be about, and this is particularly felt during the scenes with Black Manta, who (while cool) doesn’t seem like he really was necessary to include this time around. The sound design also sometimes makes things difficult to hear since a lot of it takes place underwater, and while I certainly understand the need to communicate that, it might have been better left to the visuals to communicate, as the effects sometimes blurs certain lines and entire character monologues get lost. In addition, some of the visual effects (while there are a lot that are incredible to see) are actually pretty subpar, particularly wherein green screen is used to give location background to actors that are clearly acting against nothing during a beach training scene where most of the close up shots are straight on rather than from the side or done with two people in frame.

Still, despite its somewhat obvious flaws, Aquaman is the sort of rock and roll good-time superhero movie 10-year-old me would have eaten up. It’s cheesier than a white man’s casserole and pulpier than Tarantino’s back catalogue, but its sheer commitment to the dumb fun of it all really makes it a charming wave to ride. The visuals and costume design are all (mostly) immaculate, and the overlong runtime, while noticeable, doesn’t overshadow the film’s fair share of crowd-cheer moments so cool you wanna jump out of your seat. It may be quite bizarre even for DC, but their innate faith in James Wan’s filmmaking prowess and risk-taking shows they’re taking a few steps (or swims) in the right direction.

I’m giving “Aquaman” a 7.8/10

[panticwritten]

Pearl-Handled Shotgun: Chapter One

Yeah. I have no posting schedule for this haha. We’ll just see how it goes.

Prologue

Word count: 2978

TW:

Emotional warfare (of the controlling parent kind)

Hardcore dissociation

Reference to police brutality

Alyssa

“You’re lucky we could keep it out of the newspapers.”

Alyssa doesn’t look at her father, drumming her nails against the arm of the chair. Her mom watches from a chair behind him, her disapproval clear in the curve of her brow, the thin line of her mouth. The teen turns her head so she doesn’t have to see either of them.

“That man could have pressed charges. Do you think he would have gone after your little friends?” She bristles at the sneer in his voice, but she keeps her mouth shut. “You have a promising future ahead of you, I won’t stand by and watch you throw that away.”

She nods idly, the bare minimum of what he wants from her.

“I don’t know where this is coming from, your lashing out. Your brother never did anything like this.”

Ah, there it is. Calim, the perfect son. The good one. The easy one.

“He just never got caught,” she mutters.

“What was that?”

She looks up, at the familiar anger in her father’s eyes. He cocks an eyebrow up, expectant. She sighs and shakes her head. “Nothing. I’m sorry.”

He stares at her, his gaze hard, before returning to pacing to and fro in front of the fireplace. “What else have you been doing behind our backs? It isn’t safe, and it certainly isn’t acceptable.”

“Last night was an accident,” Alyssa says before she can hold the words back. “We took a wrong turn.”

He stills, burning eyes back on her. “You shouldn’t have been out at all last night!”

“I already apologized for that.”

“You can’t really think a petty ‘sorry’ will make up for breaking our trust? For sneaking out, so you could—what? Run around the city with a group of delinquents?”

She straightens up, scrabbling to hold onto her unruffled air. “Delinquents?”

“They’re a bad influence.”

“They are not!” Shoulders squared, Alyssa’s practiced placidity ruptures at his ‘holier than thou’ stance. “Stephanie and Jared are good friends, and they don’t treat me like a glass doll or a- a- a piece of advertising!”

“Alyssa, dear, please don’t yell,” her mom warns, her voice soft. It diffuses the immediate tension in the air. Her father says nothing. The coolness in his eyes, however, tells her the damage has already been done. Alyssa clears her throat and continues with more restraint.

“I apologize, sincerely, for what happened. I should have been honest with you.” She pauses, heartened when her father jerks his head in a nod. “It wasn’t the first time I left without permission, and it was unfair of me keep you in the dark.”

“How many times?”

“What?”

“How many times have you snuck out?” he asks. His deceptively level voice spreads anxiety through her chest, thick and sticky in her throat. She swallows it down and makes a mental tally.

“Twelve?” She offers. It’s not counting the days she used shopping trips as cover for driving the roads on the eastern edges of Portland with her friends, but she doesn’t tell him that.

He considers this thoughtfully, as if deciding whether he’ll have honey or jam on his toast. Alyssa sees it in his eyes when he comes to a conclusion, one fist coming down on his open palm.

“Then we’ll discuss this again in twelve weeks.”

Her heart constricts in her chest, driving her to her feet. She manages to keep her mouth shut, but that’s not enough. It’s never enough. He raises a brow, unimpressed, and starts for the family room door.

“You won’t leave the manor unattended until then. You have ten minutes to tell your friends before I collect your devices.” He pauses at the door, looking back with a painfully detached expression. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir,” she says automatically, unable to suppress the reflex.

The door closes behind him, with hardly a whisper. She stares unseeing at the polished surface, almost wishing he had slammed it. She lowers herself back into the chair, wiping the back of a hand over her eyes before the pinch behind them can turn into tears.

If he can keep ahold of his temper, so can she.

“It could have been worse.” Alyssa jolts violently when her mom speaks. She had almost forgotten she was here.

“I know.” She doesn’t look over, dragging her phone out of her pocket. Steph and Jared will lose their minds if she just disappears for three months, especially after her father left them in jail for the night.

“You could have been killed,” she continues, voice low. Alyssa freezes, her fingers hovering over the screen. “ Just because we are who we are doesn’t mean it’s safe to get into trouble. An officer won’t think twice before they pull that trigger.”

Alyssa nods, looking up. Without her father here as a distraction, she now sees what she didn’t before in her mom’s furrowed brow, pressed lips. Fear, not disappointment. Regret pangs in her chest. “I know, mom. I swear we weren’t trying to do anything illegal.”

“That doesn’t matter.” She rises from her chair, full of grace as always, and offers her daughter a strained smile. “You need to be careful. Smarter. I’ll try to talk your father down, but I do agree that you need time to think about what happened last night.”

She nods again, and her mom starts for the door.

“I’m sorry for scaring you.”

She doesn’t answer, closing the door silently behind her. Alyssa sighs, sinking deeper into the back of the chair, and pulls up a group chat.

A<-- Hey.

A<-- I am SO sorry about my father, I can’t believe he just left you there.

A<-- I hope you both are okay. At the very least, that you’re home safe.

A<-- I can’t leave the house on my own for a few months, and he’ll be back for my phone any minute now.

She watches the screen with bated breath. After a moment, both of their icons appear beside the messages. Before she can register her relief, Steph responds.

S--> hey!

S--> i was starting to rly worry

S--> mom picked us up right after u left

A<-- Oh, thank god.

J--> a few months

J--> what the hell

J--> my dad took my keys but like

J--> just for a two weeks

S--> im grounded for a month :(

A<-- We’ve talked about my parents before. Are you really surprised?

J--> nah i guess not

J--> but thats hella rough

J--> someone needs to take some parenting classes

S--> im sorry aly

J--> how to be a good dad and not alienate your children or whatever

J--> oh shit yeah we kinda did get you in trouble huh

A<-- It’s not your fault. My mom said she’ll try to change his mind, but I doubt that will do much good.

A<-- Besides, you both got in trouble, too. It’s as much my fault as it is yours.

J--> no man dont say that

J--> youd never been camping thats a fucking crime

J--> i mean shooting at teenagers for pitching a damn tent should be a crime but thats a whole other thing

S--> jj

S--> not funny

A<-- He’s right, though.

J--> hell yeah drinking down this validation

J--> glug glug motherfucker

S--> stop

S--> ur ok tho?

S--> like should we worry?

Her phone slips through her fingers, pulled away by nimble hands, before she can answer. She hadn’t noticed her father come back in, and he leaves again without otherwise acknowledging her. She watches him go without a word.

Arguing more would make it worse. She’s lucky to have gotten ten minutes.

Now that she’s alone with nothing to do, she hefts herself upright. She stares at the embers glowing in the fireplace, considering what to do for the rest of the day. She has schoolwork due on Monday. She needs to decide within the month between Oxford—her father’s alma mater—or the local university her friends already enrolled in.

PSU sounds more fun. She wouldn’t like to think of the repercussions that may come out of that decision, though. Her parents don’t even know she applied.

She shakes her head and strides out of the room. Her feet take her along the familiar path upstairs to her study while she broods about three months without the promise of a night out on the town or a day flying along back roads in Jared’s convertible. By the time the bars are lifted, she’ll have graduated.

And she’ll have a month with them before her inevitable shipment off to Oxford.

She slams the door much harder than intended at the thought. She’s visited the campus a few times, walked through the city, and something about it leaves her uneasy. It’s beautiful, certainly, but it feels wrong.

She leans back against the door with a sigh, peering at the stack of books on her desk. The last thing she needs is for her grades to slip. She’s on thin ice as it is.

Her gaze drifts to the shelves lining the back of the room. They hold the books she’s sequestered from the library, or those that have been gifted to her.

She crosses to the closest shelf, running a finger along the books’ spines. Many of them, she still hasn’t read. She hasn’t had time to read since her parents began taking her to functions and benefits.

She dips a finger over the lip of the first in a series of old tomes wrapped in leather, one of her mom’s gifts to her this past Christmas, and drags it out. The first seems more weathered than the rest, the cover dull and rough rather than polished. She skimmed the first few pages when she first got the books, and she know there must have been effort put into it. The whole series is handwritten.

It’s as good as anything else.

She takes the book to her desk, promising herself that she’ll only read for a while. She has to get some work done before dinner, after all.

*****

“Alyssa? Are you in there?”

Alyssa jumps at the crackle of the intercom, heart racing and unseeing eyes leaving the yellowed pages of the book. It takes a few seconds to orient herself, remembering where she is. When she does, she recoils at the headache pounding behind her eyes, the roiling tension in her stomach.

She glances back down at the book to find it open near the middle. She can’t remember reading more than the first few pages—it was written as a personal diary of a slave girl named Brietta. She wrote in a neat script about mundane chores and city life, but she can’t remember the details of the anecdotes. She closes her eyes to try and remember.

Her stomach turns over when she catches a wisp of it, but it doesn’t stay long enough for her to grasp the memory itself.

“Alyssa!”

She jolts again, her eyes flying open. She rushes from her seat to the intercom and presses the flashing button for the dining room.

“Yes, mom, I’m here. What is it?”

“Come down for dinner, dear. I hope you haven’t been working too hard.”

She hesitates before answering, looking back to the book. It must have been hours since she holed myself up in there. She doesn’t remember any of it. She shakes her head and taps the button again.

“I’m fine. I’ll be down in a minute.”

She returns to the desk, ignoring her mother’s confirmation, and turns back to the first couple pages of the book. She finds the mention of ‘afternoons near the cold river after tending to mother’s sickness,’ jams one of many bookmarks upon the desk between the pages, and snaps the book shut.

She leaves it on the desk for later investigation, hurrying out to join her family in the dining room. Maybe some food will ease her lingering nausea.

By the time she enters the dining room on the ground floor, both of her parents are already perched in their seats at the far end of the table. Her mom greets her with a warm smile, her father with a nod from the end chair.

She apologizes for being late and takes a seat across from her mom. The air lays heavy upon the room, increasing the pressure behind her eyes. Even the light viola drifting from the wall speakers can’t break the tension growing with each overdone slice of a knife her father grinds on his plate through the steak.

She struggles to keep from screwing her eyes shut against it, forcing her hands into measured strokes. One bite at a time, then this will be over.

“So.”

It’s her mom that breaks the silence. All sounds of eating pause for only a moment, the rhythm of the meal changing, before continuing as though it never stopped.

“It’s gotten warm awfully fast this year, hasn’t it? Just last week it was freezing.”

“And now we’re in the upper seventies,” her father agrees.

Alyssa manages hold back a physical sigh of relief, bringing a stalk of asparagus to her lips. Her parents chat about the weather, and she keeps her head down—metaphorically speaking.

“How was your afternoon, Alyssa?” her mom asks, bright eyes on her. She lowers a slice of steak back to her plate and clears her throat with a brief glance at her father.

“Uneventful. How was yours, mother?”

She inclines her head, a conspiratorial smile playing on her lips. “Absolutely boring. My husband and daughter were hidden away in their studies all day.”

She laughs before Alyssa can feel guilty. She reaches across the table and brushes her fingers over the back of Alyssa’s hand, forgiveness promised in her eyes.

“Hidden away?” her father remarks. His words flow warmly, a rare grin directed at his wife. “My door is always open to you, Carmen.”

“And watch you approve paperwork all day? No thank you, sir!”

Alyssa can’t help but smile at the exchange.

“And you? You were upstairs for quite a while.”

The sharp change in her father’s tone straightens her spine, and her my expression morphs back into one of bland interest as she turns to meet his eyes. The sudden movement jolts her headache, and she isn’t able to hide all of her wince behind her clenched jaw.

“I was catching up on some reading for class,” she lies smoothly.

“I see.” He nods and leans forward in his chair. “You don’t look well.”

She hesitates, unwilling to admit the truth. She can’t imagine her father’s reaction to her losing several hours of time would be good, so she waits for the jammed cogs in her brain to churn out a suitable response.

“It’s just a headache,” she promises after a long pause, ignoring the way her stomach somersaults as she speaks. “Eye-strain, maybe. I was reading for several hours.”

“You shouldn’t work so hard.” Her mom’s serene interjection prompts her father to return his attention to his plate.

“I lost track of time.” Alyssa offers her a smile. She mirrors it, then turns back to her husband to discuss their upcoming trip to the capital.

Alyssa wastes no more time clearing her plate and asking to be excused. Her mom tells her to take an ibuprofen from her purse in the front hall, which she does on her way back upstairs.

Back on the third floor, she pauses at the door to her study. Just a few steps down the hall, her bedroom waits. Her bed waits, and the pounding behind her eyes feels like reason enough to take an early night.

With a sigh, still, she jerk the door open. She left the lights on, and the glare shining from the glossy cover of a textbook almost turns her back around. She stubbornly crosses the room and takes a seat at her desk.

The leather book waits for her, and she nearly flips it back open on impulse. She glances over at the stack of texts to her right, the slip of paper poking out of the first with a list of tasks.

She lifts the book, the rough cover feeling familiar under her fingertips. The cover doesn’t bear a title or an author, just the letters B.O.F. embossed across the front. She runs a finger over the initials, then the edge of the cover.

The trailing string on the bookmark knocks a pen from the desk, and she straightens up. Within moments, the book is hidden away in the desk drawer. She can read it later, when she’s gotten some work done.

Her work is much harder to get through than she may have hoped. Her headache slowly fades, but she can’t concentrate. Her thoughts keep circling back to Oxford, her friends, and the look on her mother’s face when they spoke in the family room.

That woman has been through enough.

She drops her pen on the desk and groans, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. She’s been reading the same line over and over for the past—she can’t even see how long it’s been because she doesn’t have her phone!

You don’t need to know the time when you’re working. You’re done when the work is done.

She shakes her head in her hands, banishing her father’s words into the ether. He’s taken enough energy from her today.

It’s not fair.

She rises from the chair, every movement sticky and slow. Flicking the desk lamp off, she pads to the door, covering a yawn with the back of a hand. She only made it through two of the six readings due, and she still hasn’t touched the worksheets, but she has all of Sunday to get them done.

She barely registers the walk down the hall to her room. She doesn’t bother turning the lights on, merely kicking her shoes off on the way to the bed and falling face first onto the pillow. Her father will likely have words with her if he catches her sleeping in her clothes, but she doesn’t care.

[glittergummicandypeach]

Lying in the Name of the War Lord: Jane Roe’s Fake ‘Conversion’ is a Feature Not a Bug of the Extreme Christian Right | Religion Dispatches

The late Norma McCorvey, aka Jane Roe, is back in the news, thanks to the report of her “death bed confession.” In a new documentary about her life, McCorvey, the plaintiff in the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, admitted that her 1995 conversion to evangelical Christianity was not only fraudulent, but that she was paid by antiabortion leader Rev. Phillip “Flip” Benham with the complicity of others. 

“I was the big fish,” she said. “I think it was a mutual thing. I took their money and they’d put me out in front of the cameras and tell me what to say, and that’s what I’d say.” The documentary reports that in the years following her “conversion” and during her role as an antiabortion pawn, she received at least $456,911 from the anti-abortion movement. Rev. Flip Benham of Operation Save America, who led McCorvey’s conversion, denied paying her (although the documentary surfaced financial documents that his organization did). But Benham also said, “…but she chose to be used. That’s called work. That’s what you’re paid to be doing!” Former Benham associate Rev. Rob Schenk admits to the camera, “the jig is up.”

But this story is about more than grift. It’s about how, when the history is written, it may record that what we call the culture war wasn’t just a metaphor or a handy term for a set of contemporary issues du jour. In fact, various expressions of conservative evangelicalism and Roman Catholicism are allied in a long-term war with everyone else. And in this war, lies are a feature, not a bug. 

The theorist-in-chief of this war is 20th century theologian, R.J. Rushdoony whose influence on the development and the eschatology of the evangelical wing of the Christian Right makes him a figure of historical consequence. His school of thought is called Christian Reconstructionism and the wider movement he principally engendered is generally called Dominionism. Most avatars of this theocratic vision of the Kingdom of God on Earth see themselves as engaged in a kind of low-intensity religious war, not only against sin and proponents of other religions, but against such foundational U.S. constitutional values as religious freedom, pluralism, and separation of church and state. 

While mendacity is hardly new in politics, lying still seems hypocritical coming from religious leaders who profess a higher standard. But for the leaders for whom politics is actually part of the low-intensity religious war that’s been underway for at least a half century, there’s nothing hypocritical about it. And for many of them, the biblical story of Rahab provides the justification for lies like McCorvey’s—lies foisted on the world by a cabal of theocratic anti-abortion campaigners who in turn tell us that Rahab is a model of righteousness.

In my book Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, I discuss Rushdoony’s rationale for the righteous lie. Rahab is a lauded figure in much of the Jewish and Christian tradition. She hid two Israelite military spies in her home during the siege of the Canaanite city of Jericho by the army of Joshua—and lied to Canaanite soldiers who were searching for the spies. For her service, she and her family were spared when Joshua sacked the city and massacred everyone in it. There are a variety of understandings of the meaning of Rahab’s acts—like just about any other biblical figure. But Rushdoony’s interpretation is foundational for the contemporary Christian Right.

Rushdoony rationalizes Rahab’s lies as having saved the lives of “Godly men.” He further argues that the Christian requirement to tell the truth under normal circumstances “does not apply to acts of war. Spying is legitimate, as are deceptive acts in warfare.” Since, in Rushdoony’s view, Christianity is in a permanent state of war with the rest of society, lies are not only justifiable but are by definition a Christian requirement and a necessity. Fellow Christian Reconstructionist theorist Gary North agrees, calling Rahab a “righteous revolutionary” against “Satan’s kingdom.” 

Thus, it’s not surprising that lies in pursuit of the contemporary theocratic goals of the Christian Right are legion. A more recent example, from earlier this year, was when pastor and State Representative Timothy Ginter (R-Ohio) lied to reporter Jessica Glantz from The Guardian that he had “no knowledge” of the Christian Right state legislative campaign Project Blitz when, in fact, he was its Ohio co-chair. Project Blitz had been trying to lay low in the face of public opposition and unwanted press coverage. Both the founders and the state leaders of Project Blitz are explicit about the Dominionist and Christian Nationalist goals that drive their legislative actions.

Will a Gideon or a Rahab please stand?

David Lane of the influential Christian Right political organization, American Renewal Project is also a Rahab fan. The organization, an affiliate of the Mississippi-based American Family Association, plays a quiet role in organizing and indoctrinating conservative clergy, especially in election years. They provide all-expense-paid trips for thousands of clergy and spouses to hear from the likes of Dominionist and Christian Nationalist author David Barton, and senior Republican office holders and candidates for state and federal office.

Like Rushdoony, Lane looks to Rahab as a role model for righteous revolutionaries. In June 2013 Lane published an essay titled, “Wage War to Restore a Christian Nation.” It was so controversial that the far right news site that published it, World Net Daily quickly took it down (though it appears to have been quietly reposted at some point). 

In it, Lane expressed doubts about the ability of the Christian Right to establish theocratic governance via the tools of democracy alone and thus suggested that violence and elections are not mutually exclusive, and that horrific confrontations, including acts of Christian martyrdom, lie ahead. 

“You ask, ‘What is our goal?’ To wage war to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage with all of our might and strength that God will give us. You ask, ‘What is our aim?’ One word only: victory, in spite of all intimidation and terror.”

Lane’s call for religious war ended with his signature refrain: “Will a Gideon or Rahab the Harlot please stand?” (Gideon, of course, is the Biblical figure who leads an Israelite army in an ethnic cleansing of the Midianites who were oppressors and worshiped false gods.) 

In another World Net Daily essay with the same refrain, Lane quotes Christian Reconstructionist theologian, Peter J. Leithart: 

“Until American churches actually function as outposts of Jesus’ heavenly empire rather than as cheerleaders for America—until the churches produce martyrs rather than patriots—the political witness of Christians will continue to be diluted and co-opted.” 

All of which brings us back to Flip Benham and Norma McCorvey.

Burning for Jesus

In 1995, Flip Benham and Operation Save America (formerly called Operation Rescue) moved into an office next to the Dallas clinic where McCorvey was working. Eventually, after Benham led her conversion to evangelical Christianity, McCorvey left her job at the clinic and became a fixture of anti-abortion public life

And this public life was not limited to the politics of abortion. Being on the Operation Save America payroll, meant participating in the wider war.

To that end, Benham staged at least two Qur’an burnings. The first may have been his 2004 “Burning of the Abominations” demonstration at the Columbus, Ohio City Hall. There, he both tore and burned the Qur’an, the Rainbow Flag, and the Roe v. Wade decision. The United States, he said, is defying “the God of our forefathers” by embracing “false religions and gods.” 

He attempted another one in 2006 at the Mississippi state capitol. After the cops thwarted Benham’s attempt to torch the Qur’an, the Rainbow flag, and Supreme Court decisions that he considered violative of God’s laws, he ripped them up and declared, according to Operation Save America’s own report (which was subsequently scrubbed from the website): “we have three choices with Muslims, kill them, be killed by them, or convert them. Which is your choice?”  

“While not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorist [sic] are Muslims,” he continued. “We destroy the Koran, not to desecrate their religion, but to set them free.”

Benham, according to a report by Michelle Goldberg, then a staff writer at Salon, reconvened his group at the Making Jesus Real Church in the nearby town of Pearl where they once again burned a Qu’ran, a rainbow flag, and Supreme Court decisions, including, in addition to Roe, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Lawrence v. Texas, and Everson v. Board of Education. In his Everson decision Justice Hugo Black wrote, “In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between Church and State.” 

“The Operation Save America members put the grill in the church parking lot,” Goldberg wrote. “McCorvey struck the match that burned the shredded symbols.” According to Goldberg, Benham had a couple of dozen kids gather around the grill. “There’s coming a time when it might cost you your life to stand up for King Jesus,” Benham told the children. “It is our prayer that if you go down, you go down standing up in the name of Jesus.”

Rushdoony saw that Rahabian lies would be needed in order to lay siege to the bastions of the non-Christian (or insufficiently Christian) world, including the democratic institutions and values of the government of the United States, which remain an obstacle to their theocratic goals, as the burnings staged by Benham and McCorvey make clear. Many such sieges in the religious war for the world are well underway. And, as Rob Schenk so eloquently put it, the jig is up. 

This content was originally published here.

[bjoeljohnsond91]

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In 1906 — two years before he witnessed a flying demonstration by Orville Wright — Billy Mitchell, an instructor at the Army Signal School, saw the future of war: in the coming years, battles would be fought and won in the air. After coming home from WWI with a reputation as a top combat airman, he campaigned for increased investment in air power at the cost of maintaining a large surface fleet.

When his pleas fell on deaf ears, he became more strident and more outspoken, believing the future of the United States to be at stake. So strong was his desire to be heard that he openly criticized his superiors, angering Army and Navy administrators and at least three presidents in the process. An abrasive and caustic man, he was court-martialed in 1925, found guilty, and suspended, essentially ending his military career…but not before organizing a demonstration that showed the potential of air superiority. Billy Mitchell died in 1936, years before he could dream of seeing his beliefs come good—but his impact on military doctrine cannot be overstated.

With this In Memoriam, we’ll be looking at the life and legacy of this complicated and controversial man.

Early Life and Career

Billy Mitchell was born on December 29th, 1879, to Wisconsin Senator John L. Mitchell and his wife Harriet. Mitchell grew up near Milwaukee, WI, and enlisted as a private at the age of 18. His father’s political influence granted young Mitchell an opportunity for a commission, and he joined the US Army Signal Corps (which develops, tests, and manages communications and information systems for the US Military) with the goal of fighting in the Spanish-American War.

Lt. Mitchell in Alaska

The war ended before he saw any action, but he stayed with the Army Signal Corps, and in 1900 was sent to the District of Alaska to oversee the establishment of a communication system to connect the many isolated outposts and gold rush camps. It was there where Mitchell, now a Lieutenant, read about the monumental glider experiments performed by Otto Lilienthal,   who was the first person to document repeatable, successful flights with unpowered aircraft. These experiments had a profound impact on Mitchell, and in 1906, while an instructor at the Army Signal School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he gave his now-famous prediction about the future of warfare.

But it wasn’t the only of Mitchell’s predictions that came true. In 1912, upon a tour of the battlefields of the Russo-Japanese War, he concluded that war with Japan was inevitable. Later, he went so far as to predict that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor without a formal declaration of war. In this regard, Billy Mitchell was a true visionary.

In 1916, at age 37, he finally took flying private lessons at great personal expense (he was disqualified from formal military training due to age and rank). In July, 1916, he was promoted to Major and appointed Chief of the Air Services of the First Army.

WWI

Mitchell was sent to France as an observer in 1917, a task for which he was uniquely suited, thanks to his exceptional organizational and writing skills, and the fact that he spoke French. It was there where he began collaborating with senior aviation leadership from Britain and France, who taught Mitchell the basics of aerial combat strategy and major air operations. Among these was British Major General Hugh “Boom” Trenchard, himself known as “Father of the Royal Air Force,” who had been establishing the airpower playbook for years before Mitchell arrived.

At the onset of America’s entry into WWI, the Army Signal Corps Aviation Section (the “air force” then) had just over 50 aircraft, many not operational. Just a year and a half later, Billy Mitchell, now a Brigadier General, was given command of all American air units in General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force, and orchestrated the air campaign of the Battle of St. Mihiel, coordinating nearly 1,500 Allied aircraft. What started inauspiciously ended as a major triumph—a testament to both America’s industrial prowess and to Mitchell’s exceptional command.

As Mitchell once wrote about the battle, “It was the first time in history in which an air force, cooperating with an army, was to act according to a broad strategical plan.” And it was a success. This further cemented Mitchell’s beliefs about the power of controlling the skies. “[WWI had] conclusively shown that aviation was a dominant element in the making of war, even in the relatively small way in which it was used,” he wrote.

Mitchell (left) with his gunner, leaning against a Spad aircraft

Though given his initial command because of his status, he proved to be a daring and uniquely qualified leader. For his actions, he was given the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal. 

More importantly, these successes contributed to his core belief that the Air Service had to be well-prepared at the start of the next great war, or the US could potentially lose before it ever fought.

He would spend the rest of his career working towards that preparedness…and openly challenging those who opposed.

Post-War: The Crusade Begins (1919-1921)

Mitchell knew very well that the “War to End All Wars” had accomplished something short of its moniker, and that “If a nation ambitious for universal conquest gets off to a flying start in a war of the future, it may be able to control the whole world more easily than a nation has controlled a continent in the past.”

To his horror, demobilization was the order of the day. Of the nearly 200,000 officers and men who were assigned to the Air Service at the end of the war, only 10% remained. He was appalled.

He did everything he could to prepare for the next conflict. To that end, he encouraged pilots to set world speed records to raise public consciousness. He organized long-distance air routes and simulated bombing attacks on New York. He proposed a special corps of mechanics, troop-carrying aircraft, bombers capable of transatlantic range, and—most notably—bombsights.

Mitchell in his element

But Mitchell knew that these small victories could only accomplish so much. True preparedness would require a fundamental change in thinking at the top levels of military leadership. He took every opportunity to advocate for the establishment of a separate, independent air force at the cost of spending on the surface fleet…which put him in direct conflict with US Navy leadership, notably Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt (this was the first future or sitting president Mitchell’s behavior would incense).

Understanding what Mitchell was up against requires an understanding of the Navy doctrine of the day—the Mahanian Doctrine. In 1892, Alfred Thayer Mahan, former Rear Admiral for the U.S. Navy, released his seminal work titled The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire. The book, in short, claimed that national greatness was inexorably linked with command of the sea by means of “capital ships, not too large but numerous, well-manned with crews thoroughly trained.” Mahan became world-famous, his work influencing the military elite in Great Britain, France, Japan, and here in the US.

It cannot be overstated just how pervasive Mahanian Doctrine was at the time. To those in senior leadership positions, a country’s military might was measured in battleships.

Of course, Mitchell disagreed vehemently. He maintained that expensive dreadnoughts could be easily sunk by bombs dropped from an aircraft. Mitchell faced an uphill battle. And if senior military leadership wouldn’t listen to him, he would plead his case to congress, media, public, and anyone else who would listen.

Mitchell’s beliefs can be summarized briefly:

Dreadnoughts had become obsolete, and could be destroyed easily by bombs dropped from aircraft.

There should exist an independent Air Force, equal to the Army and Navy.

A force of anti-warship airplanes could defend a coast more economically than coastal guns and naval vessels, and that the use of “floating bases” was necessary to defend the nation from naval threats.

The United States needed the ability to strike at the industrial heart of enemy powers via strategic bombing. (Please note that this is not a complete representation of his beliefs.)

The media by and large took his side, and argued that Mitchell should be allowed to conduct tests on actual warships, either captured or soon to be scuttled.

He would soon get his chance.

Project B: The Sinking of the Ostfriesland (1921)

After some pressure from the media and from congress, Secretary of War Newton Baker and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels agreed to a demonstration, held on July 20, 1921, whereby Mitchell’s aircraft would try to sink a captured German ship called the Ostfriesland.

True to form, Mitchell oversaw every aspect of preparing, right down to the building of the one-ton bombs.

The rules of the test favored the survivability of the ship—Navy construction experts would get to examine the ship between each bombing run—but Mitchell was never one to let rules get in the way of proving his point. Directing the action from his biplane Osprey, he had his airmen bombard the Ostfriesland…and in a 20-minute period, it sank to the bottom of the sea.

Sinking of the Ostfriesland, from the US Army Air Service Photographic School

Though the results were “dubious” to some…he had broken the rules, and perhaps a well-trained damage control team could patch the hull…the captured battleship was indeed sunk by aerial bombs — a fact that was impossible to ignore.

He replicated the results by sinking the retired battleship USS Alabama in September of the same year, angering President Warren Harding (the second President to react this way to Mitchell), who didn’t want any show of weakness before the Washington Naval Conference.

A wonderful photo of the retired USS Alabama getting hit by a white phosphorous bomb

Mitchell’s campaign was tireless. To fight the status quo, he had to resort to stronger and stronger rhetoric, often agitating—even embarrassing— his superiors. “All aviation policies, schemes and systems are dictated by the non-flying officers of the Army and Navy, who know practically nothing about it,” he said publicly. He ruffled a few feathers, to say the least.

As a punishment, sr. staff sent him to Hawaiii, but he only returned with a scathing review of the lack of preparedness. Then, they sent him to Asia…but it only served to deepen his conviction that war with Japan was inevitable. These two anecdotes are very revealing of the man’s character and ambition: he knew he was being exiled, but still did his best to warn sr. leadership of vulnerabilities. This was, for all intents and purposes, classic Billy Mitchell.

When he returned in 1924, he offered yet another eerily accurate prediction: “His theory was that the military strength of the United State was so great, in Japanese eyes, that Japan could win a war only by using the most advanced methods possible. Those methods would include the extensive use of aircraft,” wrote Gen. James Doolittle in his book I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography.

One very important thing remains to be said about the sinking of the Ostfriesland. Just days after, Congress funded the very first aircraft carrier.

The Court-Martial (1925)

He kept crusading, and little by little, funding for aviation was increased. Still, though, leadership dragged its feet. And more airmen were paying the price. The aging aircraft were becoming dangerous to fly. A Navy plane en route to Hawaii a crashed into the sea. Two days later, a Navy dirigible over Ohio crashed. Mitchell, now especially angry, stepped up the scathing rhetoric.

In September 1925, he issued a stunning statement:

“These incidents are the direct result of the incompetency, criminal negligence, and almost treasonable administration of the national defense by the Navy and War Departments.”

This proved to be the final straw.

One month later, a charge with eight specifications was proffered against Mitchell under the 96th Article of War. This came from the direct order of President Calvin Coolidge, the third president to take umbrage at Mitchell’s methods.

Mitchell standing stoically amidst the tumult of his court-martial

Mitchell welcomed the court-martial if it forced the public to take notice.

Unsurprisingly, Mitchell was found guilty of all specifications and of the charge. He was suspended from active duty for five years without pay, which was amended by President Coolidge to half pay. Instead, he resigned on February 1st, 1926, and spent the next decade campaigning for air power to anyone he could.

Billy Mitchell died on February 19th, 1936 at the age of 56.

The Measure of a Man

Billy Mitchell’s legacy is complicated. Was he caustic and overzealous in his pursuit of a unified, separate Air Force? Yes. Was his court-martial and subsequent guilty verdict deserved? Absolutely. He was openly insubordinate to his superiors—who, by the way, were great men, American heroes.

But he was absolutely right.

Without him, we may not have been prepared to fight WWII in the air. “Many of his observations were proven during WWII, and his ultimate goal of an independent air force was realized in September 1947, over 11 years after Mitchell’s death,” wrote Lt. Col. Johnny R. Jones, USAF, in the Foreword of his compilation of Mitchell’s unpublished writings. In 1946, 10 years after his deatch

He was decades ahead of other airpower theorists of his time, and without him, who knows what the state of air services would have been in WWII? The answer to that questions…and so many others…we will never get.

Billy Mitchell was a fine commander, an exceptional coordinator, and, above all, a man of great courage who knowingly sacrificed his career to challenge the status quo and to educate politicians, policy-makers, and the public on matter of aviation. He was a visionary who saw the future of airpower so clearly that his words still ring true now. We owe him a debt we can never properly repay.

Today, we honor Major General William Lendrum “Billy” Mitchell, as we honor so many others for their sacrifices in serving our great nation. Thank you, Billy, and thank you to all those who serve and have served.

Notes

In limiting the scope of this article, I’ve done a major disservice to two men who contributed a great deal to aviation in Mitchell’s time. The first is General Benjamin Foulois, Mitchell’s chief rival and an aviator who learned to fly the first military planes purchased from the Wright Brothers. The second is Major General Mason Patrick, whose steady hand brought about the establishment of the Army Air Corps in 1926—and who often had to clean up the messes left behind in the constant sparring between Mitchell and Foulois.

It would be disingenuous to claim that everyone in senior leadership positions disagreed with Billy Mitchell. Admiral William S. Sims once said “The average man suffers very severely from the pain of a new idea…it is my belief that the future will show that the fleet that has 20 airplane carriers instead of 16 battleships and 4 airplane carriers will inevitably knock the other fleet out.”

A by-product of my decision to focus on Mitchell’s great courage in sparring with his superiors is that I haven’t done justice to his exceptional training and organizational skills. There’s a wealth of information on the subject out there on the internet; my favorite was “Billy Mitchell and the Great War, Reconsidered,” by James J. Cooke, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Mississippi.

Mitchell was a gifted writer, and his output was prodigious: more than 60 articles for publication, several newspaper series, and five books, all of which aimed to provide a “public understanding of the promise and potential of air power.” – “William ‘Billy’ Mitchell: Air Power Visionary,” C.V. Glines, Historynet.com

In 1930, Mitchell boldly predicted that his children would live to see the US go to space. Again, he was right.

Mitchell wasn’t always right. He significantly undervalued aircraft carriers, thinking them incapable of launching enough aircraft to be significant contributors to victory. He later changed course on the matter.

During the court-martial, Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur voted “not guilty” on the basis that a senior officer should not be silenced for disagreeing with his superiors in rank and with accepted doctrine. MacArthur later said that the order to sit on the court-martial was one of the most distasteful he ever received.

Just one more note…I’ve never served, and as hard as I have tried to get my terminology correct and not be disrespectful, I admit that I may have made a misstep. Please feel free to correct me. – Thanks

http://ift.tt/2zH7uho

[jesusjensen59ch]

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In 1906 — two years before he witnessed a flying demonstration by Orville Wright — Billy Mitchell, an instructor at the Army Signal School, saw the future of war: in the coming years, battles would be fought and won in the air. After coming home from WWI with a reputation as a top combat airman, he campaigned for increased investment in air power at the cost of maintaining a large surface fleet.

When his pleas fell on deaf ears, he became more strident and more outspoken, believing the future of the United States to be at stake. So strong was his desire to be heard that he openly criticized his superiors, angering Army and Navy administrators and at least three presidents in the process. An abrasive and caustic man, he was court-martialed in 1925, found guilty, and suspended, essentially ending his military career…but not before organizing a demonstration that showed the potential of air superiority. Billy Mitchell died in 1936, years before he could dream of seeing his beliefs come good—but his impact on military doctrine cannot be overstated.

With this In Memoriam, we’ll be looking at the life and legacy of this complicated and controversial man.

Early Life and Career

Billy Mitchell was born on December 29th, 1879, to Wisconsin Senator John L. Mitchell and his wife Harriet. Mitchell grew up near Milwaukee, WI, and enlisted as a private at the age of 18. His father’s political influence granted young Mitchell an opportunity for a commission, and he joined the US Army Signal Corps (which develops, tests, and manages communications and information systems for the US Military) with the goal of fighting in the Spanish-American War.

Lt. Mitchell in Alaska

The war ended before he saw any action, but he stayed with the Army Signal Corps, and in 1900 was sent to the District of Alaska to oversee the establishment of a communication system to connect the many isolated outposts and gold rush camps. It was there where Mitchell, now a Lieutenant, read about the monumental glider experiments performed by Otto Lilienthal,   who was the first person to document repeatable, successful flights with unpowered aircraft. These experiments had a profound impact on Mitchell, and in 1906, while an instructor at the Army Signal School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he gave his now-famous prediction about the future of warfare.

But it wasn’t the only of Mitchell’s predictions that came true. In 1912, upon a tour of the battlefields of the Russo-Japanese War, he concluded that war with Japan was inevitable. Later, he went so far as to predict that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor without a formal declaration of war. In this regard, Billy Mitchell was a true visionary.

In 1916, at age 37, he finally took flying private lessons at great personal expense (he was disqualified from formal military training due to age and rank). In July, 1916, he was promoted to Major and appointed Chief of the Air Services of the First Army.

WWI

Mitchell was sent to France as an observer in 1917, a task for which he was uniquely suited, thanks to his exceptional organizational and writing skills, and the fact that he spoke French. It was there where he began collaborating with senior aviation leadership from Britain and France, who taught Mitchell the basics of aerial combat strategy and major air operations. Among these was British Major General Hugh “Boom” Trenchard, himself known as “Father of the Royal Air Force,” who had been establishing the airpower playbook for years before Mitchell arrived.

At the onset of America’s entry into WWI, the Army Signal Corps Aviation Section (the “air force” then) had just over 50 aircraft, many not operational. Just a year and a half later, Billy Mitchell, now a Brigadier General, was given command of all American air units in General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force, and orchestrated the air campaign of the Battle of St. Mihiel, coordinating nearly 1,500 Allied aircraft. What started inauspiciously ended as a major triumph—a testament to both America’s industrial prowess and to Mitchell’s exceptional command.

As Mitchell once wrote about the battle, “It was the first time in history in which an air force, cooperating with an army, was to act according to a broad strategical plan.” And it was a success. This further cemented Mitchell’s beliefs about the power of controlling the skies. “[WWI had] conclusively shown that aviation was a dominant element in the making of war, even in the relatively small way in which it was used,” he wrote.

Mitchell (left) with his gunner, leaning against a Spad aircraft

Though given his initial command because of his status, he proved to be a daring and uniquely qualified leader. For his actions, he was given the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal. 

More importantly, these successes contributed to his core belief that the Air Service had to be well-prepared at the start of the next great war, or the US could potentially lose before it ever fought.

He would spend the rest of his career working towards that preparedness…and openly challenging those who opposed.

Post-War: The Crusade Begins (1919-1921)

Mitchell knew very well that the “War to End All Wars” had accomplished something short of its moniker, and that “If a nation ambitious for universal conquest gets off to a flying start in a war of the future, it may be able to control the whole world more easily than a nation has controlled a continent in the past.”

To his horror, demobilization was the order of the day. Of the nearly 200,000 officers and men who were assigned to the Air Service at the end of the war, only 10% remained. He was appalled.

He did everything he could to prepare for the next conflict. To that end, he encouraged pilots to set world speed records to raise public consciousness. He organized long-distance air routes and simulated bombing attacks on New York. He proposed a special corps of mechanics, troop-carrying aircraft, bombers capable of transatlantic range, and—most notably—bombsights.

Mitchell in his element

But Mitchell knew that these small victories could only accomplish so much. True preparedness would require a fundamental change in thinking at the top levels of military leadership. He took every opportunity to advocate for the establishment of a separate, independent air force at the cost of spending on the surface fleet…which put him in direct conflict with US Navy leadership, notably Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt (this was the first future or sitting president Mitchell’s behavior would incense).

Understanding what Mitchell was up against requires an understanding of the Navy doctrine of the day—the Mahanian Doctrine. In 1892, Alfred Thayer Mahan, former Rear Admiral for the U.S. Navy, released his seminal work titled The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire. The book, in short, claimed that national greatness was inexorably linked with command of the sea by means of “capital ships, not too large but numerous, well-manned with crews thoroughly trained.” Mahan became world-famous, his work influencing the military elite in Great Britain, France, Japan, and here in the US.

It cannot be overstated just how pervasive Mahanian Doctrine was at the time. To those in senior leadership positions, a country’s military might was measured in battleships.

Of course, Mitchell disagreed vehemently. He maintained that expensive dreadnoughts could be easily sunk by bombs dropped from an aircraft. Mitchell faced an uphill battle. And if senior military leadership wouldn’t listen to him, he would plead his case to congress, media, public, and anyone else who would listen.

Mitchell’s beliefs can be summarized briefly:

Dreadnoughts had become obsolete, and could be destroyed easily by bombs dropped from aircraft.

There should exist an independent Air Force, equal to the Army and Navy.

A force of anti-warship airplanes could defend a coast more economically than coastal guns and naval vessels, and that the use of “floating bases” was necessary to defend the nation from naval threats.

The United States needed the ability to strike at the industrial heart of enemy powers via strategic bombing. (Please note that this is not a complete representation of his beliefs.)

The media by and large took his side, and argued that Mitchell should be allowed to conduct tests on actual warships, either captured or soon to be scuttled.

He would soon get his chance.

Project B: The Sinking of the Ostfriesland (1921)

After some pressure from the media and from congress, Secretary of War Newton Baker and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels agreed to a demonstration, held on July 20, 1921, whereby Mitchell’s aircraft would try to sink a captured German ship called the Ostfriesland.

True to form, Mitchell oversaw every aspect of preparing, right down to the building of the one-ton bombs.

The rules of the test favored the survivability of the ship—Navy construction experts would get to examine the ship between each bombing run—but Mitchell was never one to let rules get in the way of proving his point. Directing the action from his biplane Osprey, he had his airmen bombard the Ostfriesland…and in a 20-minute period, it sank to the bottom of the sea.

Sinking of the Ostfriesland, from the US Army Air Service Photographic School

Though the results were “dubious” to some…he had broken the rules, and perhaps a well-trained damage control team could patch the hull…the captured battleship was indeed sunk by aerial bombs — a fact that was impossible to ignore.

He replicated the results by sinking the retired battleship USS Alabama in September of the same year, angering President Warren Harding (the second President to react this way to Mitchell), who didn’t want any show of weakness before the Washington Naval Conference.

A wonderful photo of the retired USS Alabama getting hit by a white phosphorous bomb

Mitchell’s campaign was tireless. To fight the status quo, he had to resort to stronger and stronger rhetoric, often agitating—even embarrassing— his superiors. “All aviation policies, schemes and systems are dictated by the non-flying officers of the Army and Navy, who know practically nothing about it,” he said publicly. He ruffled a few feathers, to say the least.

As a punishment, sr. staff sent him to Hawaiii, but he only returned with a scathing review of the lack of preparedness. Then, they sent him to Asia…but it only served to deepen his conviction that war with Japan was inevitable. These two anecdotes are very revealing of the man’s character and ambition: he knew he was being exiled, but still did his best to warn sr. leadership of vulnerabilities. This was, for all intents and purposes, classic Billy Mitchell.

When he returned in 1924, he offered yet another eerily accurate prediction: “His theory was that the military strength of the United State was so great, in Japanese eyes, that Japan could win a war only by using the most advanced methods possible. Those methods would include the extensive use of aircraft,” wrote Gen. James Doolittle in his book I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography.

One very important thing remains to be said about the sinking of the Ostfriesland. Just days after, Congress funded the very first aircraft carrier.

The Court-Martial (1925)

He kept crusading, and little by little, funding for aviation was increased. Still, though, leadership dragged its feet. And more airmen were paying the price. The aging aircraft were becoming dangerous to fly. A Navy plane en route to Hawaii a crashed into the sea. Two days later, a Navy dirigible over Ohio crashed. Mitchell, now especially angry, stepped up the scathing rhetoric.

In September 1925, he issued a stunning statement:

“These incidents are the direct result of the incompetency, criminal negligence, and almost treasonable administration of the national defense by the Navy and War Departments.”

This proved to be the final straw.

One month later, a charge with eight specifications was proffered against Mitchell under the 96th Article of War. This came from the direct order of President Calvin Coolidge, the third president to take umbrage at Mitchell’s methods.

Mitchell standing stoically amidst the tumult of his court-martial

Mitchell welcomed the court-martial if it forced the public to take notice.

Unsurprisingly, Mitchell was found guilty of all specifications and of the charge. He was suspended from active duty for five years without pay, which was amended by President Coolidge to half pay. Instead, he resigned on February 1st, 1926, and spent the next decade campaigning for air power to anyone he could.

Billy Mitchell died on February 19th, 1936 at the age of 56.

The Measure of a Man

Billy Mitchell’s legacy is complicated. Was he caustic and overzealous in his pursuit of a unified, separate Air Force? Yes. Was his court-martial and subsequent guilty verdict deserved? Absolutely. He was openly insubordinate to his superiors—who, by the way, were great men, American heroes.

But he was absolutely right.

Without him, we may not have been prepared to fight WWII in the air. “Many of his observations were proven during WWII, and his ultimate goal of an independent air force was realized in September 1947, over 11 years after Mitchell’s death,” wrote Lt. Col. Johnny R. Jones, USAF, in the Foreword of his compilation of Mitchell’s unpublished writings. In 1946, 10 years after his deatch

He was decades ahead of other airpower theorists of his time, and without him, who knows what the state of air services would have been in WWII? The answer to that questions…and so many others…we will never get.

Billy Mitchell was a fine commander, an exceptional coordinator, and, above all, a man of great courage who knowingly sacrificed his career to challenge the status quo and to educate politicians, policy-makers, and the public on matter of aviation. He was a visionary who saw the future of airpower so clearly that his words still ring true now. We owe him a debt we can never properly repay.

Today, we honor Major General William Lendrum “Billy” Mitchell, as we honor so many others for their sacrifices in serving our great nation. Thank you, Billy, and thank you to all those who serve and have served.

Notes

In limiting the scope of this article, I’ve done a major disservice to two men who contributed a great deal to aviation in Mitchell’s time. The first is General Benjamin Foulois, Mitchell’s chief rival and an aviator who learned to fly the first military planes purchased from the Wright Brothers. The second is Major General Mason Patrick, whose steady hand brought about the establishment of the Army Air Corps in 1926—and who often had to clean up the messes left behind in the constant sparring between Mitchell and Foulois.

It would be disingenuous to claim that everyone in senior leadership positions disagreed with Billy Mitchell. Admiral William S. Sims once said “The average man suffers very severely from the pain of a new idea…it is my belief that the future will show that the fleet that has 20 airplane carriers instead of 16 battleships and 4 airplane carriers will inevitably knock the other fleet out.”

A by-product of my decision to focus on Mitchell’s great courage in sparring with his superiors is that I haven’t done justice to his exceptional training and organizational skills. There’s a wealth of information on the subject out there on the internet; my favorite was “Billy Mitchell and the Great War, Reconsidered,” by James J. Cooke, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Mississippi.

Mitchell was a gifted writer, and his output was prodigious: more than 60 articles for publication, several newspaper series, and five books, all of which aimed to provide a “public understanding of the promise and potential of air power.” – “William ‘Billy’ Mitchell: Air Power Visionary,” C.V. Glines, Historynet.com

In 1930, Mitchell boldly predicted that his children would live to see the US go to space. Again, he was right.

Mitchell wasn’t always right. He significantly undervalued aircraft carriers, thinking them incapable of launching enough aircraft to be significant contributors to victory. He later changed course on the matter.

During the court-martial, Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur voted “not guilty” on the basis that a senior officer should not be silenced for disagreeing with his superiors in rank and with accepted doctrine. MacArthur later said that the order to sit on the court-martial was one of the most distasteful he ever received.

Just one more note…I’ve never served, and as hard as I have tried to get my terminology correct and not be disrespectful, I admit that I may have made a misstep. Please feel free to correct me. – Thanks

http://ift.tt/2zH7uho

[mariefoster2k19zs1]

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In 1906 — two years before he witnessed a flying demonstration by Orville Wright — Billy Mitchell, an instructor at the Army Signal School, saw the future of war: in the coming years, battles would be fought and won in the air. After coming home from WWI with a reputation as a top combat airman, he campaigned for increased investment in air power at the cost of maintaining a large surface fleet.

When his pleas fell on deaf ears, he became more strident and more outspoken, believing the future of the United States to be at stake. So strong was his desire to be heard that he openly criticized his superiors, angering Army and Navy administrators and at least three presidents in the process. An abrasive and caustic man, he was court-martialed in 1925, found guilty, and suspended, essentially ending his military career…but not before organizing a demonstration that showed the potential of air superiority. Billy Mitchell died in 1936, years before he could dream of seeing his beliefs come good—but his impact on military doctrine cannot be overstated.

With this In Memoriam, we’ll be looking at the life and legacy of this complicated and controversial man.

Early Life and Career

Billy Mitchell was born on December 29th, 1879, to Wisconsin Senator John L. Mitchell and his wife Harriet. Mitchell grew up near Milwaukee, WI, and enlisted as a private at the age of 18. His father’s political influence granted young Mitchell an opportunity for a commission, and he joined the US Army Signal Corps (which develops, tests, and manages communications and information systems for the US Military) with the goal of fighting in the Spanish-American War.

Lt. Mitchell in Alaska

The war ended before he saw any action, but he stayed with the Army Signal Corps, and in 1900 was sent to the District of Alaska to oversee the establishment of a communication system to connect the many isolated outposts and gold rush camps. It was there where Mitchell, now a Lieutenant, read about the monumental glider experiments performed by Otto Lilienthal,   who was the first person to document repeatable, successful flights with unpowered aircraft. These experiments had a profound impact on Mitchell, and in 1906, while an instructor at the Army Signal School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he gave his now-famous prediction about the future of warfare.

But it wasn’t the only of Mitchell’s predictions that came true. In 1912, upon a tour of the battlefields of the Russo-Japanese War, he concluded that war with Japan was inevitable. Later, he went so far as to predict that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor without a formal declaration of war. In this regard, Billy Mitchell was a true visionary.

In 1916, at age 37, he finally took flying private lessons at great personal expense (he was disqualified from formal military training due to age and rank). In July, 1916, he was promoted to Major and appointed Chief of the Air Services of the First Army.

WWI

Mitchell was sent to France as an observer in 1917, a task for which he was uniquely suited, thanks to his exceptional organizational and writing skills, and the fact that he spoke French. It was there where he began collaborating with senior aviation leadership from Britain and France, who taught Mitchell the basics of aerial combat strategy and major air operations. Among these was British Major General Hugh “Boom” Trenchard, himself known as “Father of the Royal Air Force,” who had been establishing the airpower playbook for years before Mitchell arrived.

At the onset of America’s entry into WWI, the Army Signal Corps Aviation Section (the “air force” then) had just over 50 aircraft, many not operational. Just a year and a half later, Billy Mitchell, now a Brigadier General, was given command of all American air units in General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force, and orchestrated the air campaign of the Battle of St. Mihiel, coordinating nearly 1,500 Allied aircraft. What started inauspiciously ended as a major triumph—a testament to both America’s industrial prowess and to Mitchell’s exceptional command.

As Mitchell once wrote about the battle, “It was the first time in history in which an air force, cooperating with an army, was to act according to a broad strategical plan.” And it was a success. This further cemented Mitchell’s beliefs about the power of controlling the skies. “[WWI had] conclusively shown that aviation was a dominant element in the making of war, even in the relatively small way in which it was used,” he wrote.

Mitchell (left) with his gunner, leaning against a Spad aircraft

Though given his initial command because of his status, he proved to be a daring and uniquely qualified leader. For his actions, he was given the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal. 

More importantly, these successes contributed to his core belief that the Air Service had to be well-prepared at the start of the next great war, or the US could potentially lose before it ever fought.

He would spend the rest of his career working towards that preparedness…and openly challenging those who opposed.

Post-War: The Crusade Begins (1919-1921)

Mitchell knew very well that the “War to End All Wars” had accomplished something short of its moniker, and that “If a nation ambitious for universal conquest gets off to a flying start in a war of the future, it may be able to control the whole world more easily than a nation has controlled a continent in the past.”

To his horror, demobilization was the order of the day. Of the nearly 200,000 officers and men who were assigned to the Air Service at the end of the war, only 10% remained. He was appalled.

He did everything he could to prepare for the next conflict. To that end, he encouraged pilots to set world speed records to raise public consciousness. He organized long-distance air routes and simulated bombing attacks on New York. He proposed a special corps of mechanics, troop-carrying aircraft, bombers capable of transatlantic range, and—most notably—bombsights.

Mitchell in his element

But Mitchell knew that these small victories could only accomplish so much. True preparedness would require a fundamental change in thinking at the top levels of military leadership. He took every opportunity to advocate for the establishment of a separate, independent air force at the cost of spending on the surface fleet…which put him in direct conflict with US Navy leadership, notably Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt (this was the first future or sitting president Mitchell’s behavior would incense).

Understanding what Mitchell was up against requires an understanding of the Navy doctrine of the day—the Mahanian Doctrine. In 1892, Alfred Thayer Mahan, former Rear Admiral for the U.S. Navy, released his seminal work titled The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire. The book, in short, claimed that national greatness was inexorably linked with command of the sea by means of “capital ships, not too large but numerous, well-manned with crews thoroughly trained.” Mahan became world-famous, his work influencing the military elite in Great Britain, France, Japan, and here in the US.

It cannot be overstated just how pervasive Mahanian Doctrine was at the time. To those in senior leadership positions, a country’s military might was measured in battleships.

Of course, Mitchell disagreed vehemently. He maintained that expensive dreadnoughts could be easily sunk by bombs dropped from an aircraft. Mitchell faced an uphill battle. And if senior military leadership wouldn’t listen to him, he would plead his case to congress, media, public, and anyone else who would listen.

Mitchell’s beliefs can be summarized briefly:

Dreadnoughts had become obsolete, and could be destroyed easily by bombs dropped from aircraft.

There should exist an independent Air Force, equal to the Army and Navy.

A force of anti-warship airplanes could defend a coast more economically than coastal guns and naval vessels, and that the use of “floating bases” was necessary to defend the nation from naval threats.

The United States needed the ability to strike at the industrial heart of enemy powers via strategic bombing. (Please note that this is not a complete representation of his beliefs.)

The media by and large took his side, and argued that Mitchell should be allowed to conduct tests on actual warships, either captured or soon to be scuttled.

He would soon get his chance.

Project B: The Sinking of the Ostfriesland (1921)

After some pressure from the media and from congress, Secretary of War Newton Baker and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels agreed to a demonstration, held on July 20, 1921, whereby Mitchell’s aircraft would try to sink a captured German ship called the Ostfriesland.

True to form, Mitchell oversaw every aspect of preparing, right down to the building of the one-ton bombs.

The rules of the test favored the survivability of the ship—Navy construction experts would get to examine the ship between each bombing run—but Mitchell was never one to let rules get in the way of proving his point. Directing the action from his biplane Osprey, he had his airmen bombard the Ostfriesland…and in a 20-minute period, it sank to the bottom of the sea.

Sinking of the Ostfriesland, from the US Army Air Service Photographic School

Though the results were “dubious” to some…he had broken the rules, and perhaps a well-trained damage control team could patch the hull…the captured battleship was indeed sunk by aerial bombs — a fact that was impossible to ignore.

He replicated the results by sinking the retired battleship USS Alabama in September of the same year, angering President Warren Harding (the second President to react this way to Mitchell), who didn’t want any show of weakness before the Washington Naval Conference.

A wonderful photo of the retired USS Alabama getting hit by a white phosphorous bomb

Mitchell’s campaign was tireless. To fight the status quo, he had to resort to stronger and stronger rhetoric, often agitating—even embarrassing— his superiors. “All aviation policies, schemes and systems are dictated by the non-flying officers of the Army and Navy, who know practically nothing about it,” he said publicly. He ruffled a few feathers, to say the least.

As a punishment, sr. staff sent him to Hawaiii, but he only returned with a scathing review of the lack of preparedness. Then, they sent him to Asia…but it only served to deepen his conviction that war with Japan was inevitable. These two anecdotes are very revealing of the man’s character and ambition: he knew he was being exiled, but still did his best to warn sr. leadership of vulnerabilities. This was, for all intents and purposes, classic Billy Mitchell.

When he returned in 1924, he offered yet another eerily accurate prediction: “His theory was that the military strength of the United State was so great, in Japanese eyes, that Japan could win a war only by using the most advanced methods possible. Those methods would include the extensive use of aircraft,” wrote Gen. James Doolittle in his book I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography.

One very important thing remains to be said about the sinking of the Ostfriesland. Just days after, Congress funded the very first aircraft carrier.

The Court-Martial (1925)

He kept crusading, and little by little, funding for aviation was increased. Still, though, leadership dragged its feet. And more airmen were paying the price. The aging aircraft were becoming dangerous to fly. A Navy plane en route to Hawaii a crashed into the sea. Two days later, a Navy dirigible over Ohio crashed. Mitchell, now especially angry, stepped up the scathing rhetoric.

In September 1925, he issued a stunning statement:

“These incidents are the direct result of the incompetency, criminal negligence, and almost treasonable administration of the national defense by the Navy and War Departments.”

This proved to be the final straw.

One month later, a charge with eight specifications was proffered against Mitchell under the 96th Article of War. This came from the direct order of President Calvin Coolidge, the third president to take umbrage at Mitchell’s methods.

Mitchell standing stoically amidst the tumult of his court-martial

Mitchell welcomed the court-martial if it forced the public to take notice.

Unsurprisingly, Mitchell was found guilty of all specifications and of the charge. He was suspended from active duty for five years without pay, which was amended by President Coolidge to half pay. Instead, he resigned on February 1st, 1926, and spent the next decade campaigning for air power to anyone he could.

Billy Mitchell died on February 19th, 1936 at the age of 56.

The Measure of a Man

Billy Mitchell’s legacy is complicated. Was he caustic and overzealous in his pursuit of a unified, separate Air Force? Yes. Was his court-martial and subsequent guilty verdict deserved? Absolutely. He was openly insubordinate to his superiors—who, by the way, were great men, American heroes.

But he was absolutely right.

Without him, we may not have been prepared to fight WWII in the air. “Many of his observations were proven during WWII, and his ultimate goal of an independent air force was realized in September 1947, over 11 years after Mitchell’s death,” wrote Lt. Col. Johnny R. Jones, USAF, in the Foreword of his compilation of Mitchell’s unpublished writings. In 1946, 10 years after his deatch

He was decades ahead of other airpower theorists of his time, and without him, who knows what the state of air services would have been in WWII? The answer to that questions…and so many others…we will never get.

Billy Mitchell was a fine commander, an exceptional coordinator, and, above all, a man of great courage who knowingly sacrificed his career to challenge the status quo and to educate politicians, policy-makers, and the public on matter of aviation. He was a visionary who saw the future of airpower so clearly that his words still ring true now. We owe him a debt we can never properly repay.

Today, we honor Major General William Lendrum “Billy” Mitchell, as we honor so many others for their sacrifices in serving our great nation. Thank you, Billy, and thank you to all those who serve and have served.

Notes

In limiting the scope of this article, I’ve done a major disservice to two men who contributed a great deal to aviation in Mitchell’s time. The first is General Benjamin Foulois, Mitchell’s chief rival and an aviator who learned to fly the first military planes purchased from the Wright Brothers. The second is Major General Mason Patrick, whose steady hand brought about the establishment of the Army Air Corps in 1926—and who often had to clean up the messes left behind in the constant sparring between Mitchell and Foulois.

It would be disingenuous to claim that everyone in senior leadership positions disagreed with Billy Mitchell. Admiral William S. Sims once said “The average man suffers very severely from the pain of a new idea…it is my belief that the future will show that the fleet that has 20 airplane carriers instead of 16 battleships and 4 airplane carriers will inevitably knock the other fleet out.”

A by-product of my decision to focus on Mitchell’s great courage in sparring with his superiors is that I haven’t done justice to his exceptional training and organizational skills. There’s a wealth of information on the subject out there on the internet; my favorite was “Billy Mitchell and the Great War, Reconsidered,” by James J. Cooke, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Mississippi.

Mitchell was a gifted writer, and his output was prodigious: more than 60 articles for publication, several newspaper series, and five books, all of which aimed to provide a “public understanding of the promise and potential of air power.” – “William ‘Billy’ Mitchell: Air Power Visionary,” C.V. Glines, Historynet.com

In 1930, Mitchell boldly predicted that his children would live to see the US go to space. Again, he was right.

Mitchell wasn’t always right. He significantly undervalued aircraft carriers, thinking them incapable of launching enough aircraft to be significant contributors to victory. He later changed course on the matter.

During the court-martial, Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur voted “not guilty” on the basis that a senior officer should not be silenced for disagreeing with his superiors in rank and with accepted doctrine. MacArthur later said that the order to sit on the court-martial was one of the most distasteful he ever received.

Just one more note…I’ve never served, and as hard as I have tried to get my terminology correct and not be disrespectful, I admit that I may have made a misstep. Please feel free to correct me. – Thanks

http://ift.tt/2zH7uho

[jamespdsolmcc09]

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In 1906 — two years before he witnessed a flying demonstration by Orville Wright — Billy Mitchell, an instructor at the Army Signal School, saw the future of war: in the coming years, battles would be fought and won in the air. After coming home from WWI with a reputation as a top combat airman, he campaigned for increased investment in air power at the cost of maintaining a large surface fleet.

When his pleas fell on deaf ears, he became more strident and more outspoken, believing the future of the United States to be at stake. So strong was his desire to be heard that he openly criticized his superiors, angering Army and Navy administrators and at least three presidents in the process. An abrasive and caustic man, he was court-martialed in 1925, found guilty, and suspended, essentially ending his military career…but not before organizing a demonstration that showed the potential of air superiority. Billy Mitchell died in 1936, years before he could dream of seeing his beliefs come good—but his impact on military doctrine cannot be overstated.

With this In Memoriam, we’ll be looking at the life and legacy of this complicated and controversial man.

Early Life and Career

Billy Mitchell was born on December 29th, 1879, to Wisconsin Senator John L. Mitchell and his wife Harriet. Mitchell grew up near Milwaukee, WI, and enlisted as a private at the age of 18. His father’s political influence granted young Mitchell an opportunity for a commission, and he joined the US Army Signal Corps (which develops, tests, and manages communications and information systems for the US Military) with the goal of fighting in the Spanish-American War.

Lt. Mitchell in Alaska

The war ended before he saw any action, but he stayed with the Army Signal Corps, and in 1900 was sent to the District of Alaska to oversee the establishment of a communication system to connect the many isolated outposts and gold rush camps. It was there where Mitchell, now a Lieutenant, read about the monumental glider experiments performed by Otto Lilienthal,   who was the first person to document repeatable, successful flights with unpowered aircraft. These experiments had a profound impact on Mitchell, and in 1906, while an instructor at the Army Signal School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he gave his now-famous prediction about the future of warfare.

But it wasn’t the only of Mitchell’s predictions that came true. In 1912, upon a tour of the battlefields of the Russo-Japanese War, he concluded that war with Japan was inevitable. Later, he went so far as to predict that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor without a formal declaration of war. In this regard, Billy Mitchell was a true visionary.

In 1916, at age 37, he finally took flying private lessons at great personal expense (he was disqualified from formal military training due to age and rank). In July, 1916, he was promoted to Major and appointed Chief of the Air Services of the First Army.

WWI

Mitchell was sent to France as an observer in 1917, a task for which he was uniquely suited, thanks to his exceptional organizational and writing skills, and the fact that he spoke French. It was there where he began collaborating with senior aviation leadership from Britain and France, who taught Mitchell the basics of aerial combat strategy and major air operations. Among these was British Major General Hugh “Boom” Trenchard, himself known as “Father of the Royal Air Force,” who had been establishing the airpower playbook for years before Mitchell arrived.

At the onset of America’s entry into WWI, the Army Signal Corps Aviation Section (the “air force” then) had just over 50 aircraft, many not operational. Just a year and a half later, Billy Mitchell, now a Brigadier General, was given command of all American air units in General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force, and orchestrated the air campaign of the Battle of St. Mihiel, coordinating nearly 1,500 Allied aircraft. What started inauspiciously ended as a major triumph—a testament to both America’s industrial prowess and to Mitchell’s exceptional command.

As Mitchell once wrote about the battle, “It was the first time in history in which an air force, cooperating with an army, was to act according to a broad strategical plan.” And it was a success. This further cemented Mitchell’s beliefs about the power of controlling the skies. “[WWI had] conclusively shown that aviation was a dominant element in the making of war, even in the relatively small way in which it was used,” he wrote.

Mitchell (left) with his gunner, leaning against a Spad aircraft

Though given his initial command because of his status, he proved to be a daring and uniquely qualified leader. For his actions, he was given the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal. 

More importantly, these successes contributed to his core belief that the Air Service had to be well-prepared at the start of the next great war, or the US could potentially lose before it ever fought.

He would spend the rest of his career working towards that preparedness…and openly challenging those who opposed.

Post-War: The Crusade Begins (1919-1921)

Mitchell knew very well that the “War to End All Wars” had accomplished something short of its moniker, and that “If a nation ambitious for universal conquest gets off to a flying start in a war of the future, it may be able to control the whole world more easily than a nation has controlled a continent in the past.”

To his horror, demobilization was the order of the day. Of the nearly 200,000 officers and men who were assigned to the Air Service at the end of the war, only 10% remained. He was appalled.

He did everything he could to prepare for the next conflict. To that end, he encouraged pilots to set world speed records to raise public consciousness. He organized long-distance air routes and simulated bombing attacks on New York. He proposed a special corps of mechanics, troop-carrying aircraft, bombers capable of transatlantic range, and—most notably—bombsights.

Mitchell in his element

But Mitchell knew that these small victories could only accomplish so much. True preparedness would require a fundamental change in thinking at the top levels of military leadership. He took every opportunity to advocate for the establishment of a separate, independent air force at the cost of spending on the surface fleet…which put him in direct conflict with US Navy leadership, notably Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt (this was the first future or sitting president Mitchell’s behavior would incense).

Understanding what Mitchell was up against requires an understanding of the Navy doctrine of the day—the Mahanian Doctrine. In 1892, Alfred Thayer Mahan, former Rear Admiral for the U.S. Navy, released his seminal work titled The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire. The book, in short, claimed that national greatness was inexorably linked with command of the sea by means of “capital ships, not too large but numerous, well-manned with crews thoroughly trained.” Mahan became world-famous, his work influencing the military elite in Great Britain, France, Japan, and here in the US.

It cannot be overstated just how pervasive Mahanian Doctrine was at the time. To those in senior leadership positions, a country’s military might was measured in battleships.

Of course, Mitchell disagreed vehemently. He maintained that expensive dreadnoughts could be easily sunk by bombs dropped from an aircraft. Mitchell faced an uphill battle. And if senior military leadership wouldn’t listen to him, he would plead his case to congress, media, public, and anyone else who would listen.

Mitchell’s beliefs can be summarized briefly:

Dreadnoughts had become obsolete, and could be destroyed easily by bombs dropped from aircraft.

There should exist an independent Air Force, equal to the Army and Navy.

A force of anti-warship airplanes could defend a coast more economically than coastal guns and naval vessels, and that the use of “floating bases” was necessary to defend the nation from naval threats.

The United States needed the ability to strike at the industrial heart of enemy powers via strategic bombing. (Please note that this is not a complete representation of his beliefs.)

The media by and large took his side, and argued that Mitchell should be allowed to conduct tests on actual warships, either captured or soon to be scuttled.

He would soon get his chance.

Project B: The Sinking of the Ostfriesland (1921)

After some pressure from the media and from congress, Secretary of War Newton Baker and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels agreed to a demonstration, held on July 20, 1921, whereby Mitchell’s aircraft would try to sink a captured German ship called the Ostfriesland.

True to form, Mitchell oversaw every aspect of preparing, right down to the building of the one-ton bombs.

The rules of the test favored the survivability of the ship—Navy construction experts would get to examine the ship between each bombing run—but Mitchell was never one to let rules get in the way of proving his point. Directing the action from his biplane Osprey, he had his airmen bombard the Ostfriesland…and in a 20-minute period, it sank to the bottom of the sea.

Sinking of the Ostfriesland, from the US Army Air Service Photographic School

Though the results were “dubious” to some…he had broken the rules, and perhaps a well-trained damage control team could patch the hull…the captured battleship was indeed sunk by aerial bombs — a fact that was impossible to ignore.

He replicated the results by sinking the retired battleship USS Alabama in September of the same year, angering President Warren Harding (the second President to react this way to Mitchell), who didn’t want any show of weakness before the Washington Naval Conference.

A wonderful photo of the retired USS Alabama getting hit by a white phosphorous bomb

Mitchell’s campaign was tireless. To fight the status quo, he had to resort to stronger and stronger rhetoric, often agitating—even embarrassing— his superiors. “All aviation policies, schemes and systems are dictated by the non-flying officers of the Army and Navy, who know practically nothing about it,” he said publicly. He ruffled a few feathers, to say the least.

As a punishment, sr. staff sent him to Hawaiii, but he only returned with a scathing review of the lack of preparedness. Then, they sent him to Asia…but it only served to deepen his conviction that war with Japan was inevitable. These two anecdotes are very revealing of the man’s character and ambition: he knew he was being exiled, but still did his best to warn sr. leadership of vulnerabilities. This was, for all intents and purposes, classic Billy Mitchell.

When he returned in 1924, he offered yet another eerily accurate prediction: “His theory was that the military strength of the United State was so great, in Japanese eyes, that Japan could win a war only by using the most advanced methods possible. Those methods would include the extensive use of aircraft,” wrote Gen. James Doolittle in his book I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography.

One very important thing remains to be said about the sinking of the Ostfriesland. Just days after, Congress funded the very first aircraft carrier.

The Court-Martial (1925)

He kept crusading, and little by little, funding for aviation was increased. Still, though, leadership dragged its feet. And more airmen were paying the price. The aging aircraft were becoming dangerous to fly. A Navy plane en route to Hawaii a crashed into the sea. Two days later, a Navy dirigible over Ohio crashed. Mitchell, now especially angry, stepped up the scathing rhetoric.

In September 1925, he issued a stunning statement:

“These incidents are the direct result of the incompetency, criminal negligence, and almost treasonable administration of the national defense by the Navy and War Departments.”

This proved to be the final straw.

One month later, a charge with eight specifications was proffered against Mitchell under the 96th Article of War. This came from the direct order of President Calvin Coolidge, the third president to take umbrage at Mitchell’s methods.

Mitchell standing stoically amidst the tumult of his court-martial

Mitchell welcomed the court-martial if it forced the public to take notice.

Unsurprisingly, Mitchell was found guilty of all specifications and of the charge. He was suspended from active duty for five years without pay, which was amended by President Coolidge to half pay. Instead, he resigned on February 1st, 1926, and spent the next decade campaigning for air power to anyone he could.

Billy Mitchell died on February 19th, 1936 at the age of 56.

The Measure of a Man

Billy Mitchell’s legacy is complicated. Was he caustic and overzealous in his pursuit of a unified, separate Air Force? Yes. Was his court-martial and subsequent guilty verdict deserved? Absolutely. He was openly insubordinate to his superiors—who, by the way, were great men, American heroes.

But he was absolutely right.

Without him, we may not have been prepared to fight WWII in the air. “Many of his observations were proven during WWII, and his ultimate goal of an independent air force was realized in September 1947, over 11 years after Mitchell’s death,” wrote Lt. Col. Johnny R. Jones, USAF, in the Foreword of his compilation of Mitchell’s unpublished writings. In 1946, 10 years after his deatch

He was decades ahead of other airpower theorists of his time, and without him, who knows what the state of air services would have been in WWII? The answer to that questions…and so many others…we will never get.

Billy Mitchell was a fine commander, an exceptional coordinator, and, above all, a man of great courage who knowingly sacrificed his career to challenge the status quo and to educate politicians, policy-makers, and the public on matter of aviation. He was a visionary who saw the future of airpower so clearly that his words still ring true now. We owe him a debt we can never properly repay.

Today, we honor Major General William Lendrum “Billy” Mitchell, as we honor so many others for their sacrifices in serving our great nation. Thank you, Billy, and thank you to all those who serve and have served.

Notes

In limiting the scope of this article, I’ve done a major disservice to two men who contributed a great deal to aviation in Mitchell’s time. The first is General Benjamin Foulois, Mitchell’s chief rival and an aviator who learned to fly the first military planes purchased from the Wright Brothers. The second is Major General Mason Patrick, whose steady hand brought about the establishment of the Army Air Corps in 1926—and who often had to clean up the messes left behind in the constant sparring between Mitchell and Foulois.

It would be disingenuous to claim that everyone in senior leadership positions disagreed with Billy Mitchell. Admiral William S. Sims once said “The average man suffers very severely from the pain of a new idea…it is my belief that the future will show that the fleet that has 20 airplane carriers instead of 16 battleships and 4 airplane carriers will inevitably knock the other fleet out.”

A by-product of my decision to focus on Mitchell’s great courage in sparring with his superiors is that I haven’t done justice to his exceptional training and organizational skills. There’s a wealth of information on the subject out there on the internet; my favorite was “Billy Mitchell and the Great War, Reconsidered,” by James J. Cooke, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Mississippi.

Mitchell was a gifted writer, and his output was prodigious: more than 60 articles for publication, several newspaper series, and five books, all of which aimed to provide a “public understanding of the promise and potential of air power.” – “William ‘Billy’ Mitchell: Air Power Visionary,” C.V. Glines, Historynet.com

In 1930, Mitchell boldly predicted that his children would live to see the US go to space. Again, he was right.

Mitchell wasn’t always right. He significantly undervalued aircraft carriers, thinking them incapable of launching enough aircraft to be significant contributors to victory. He later changed course on the matter.

During the court-martial, Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur voted “not guilty” on the basis that a senior officer should not be silenced for disagreeing with his superiors in rank and with accepted doctrine. MacArthur later said that the order to sit on the court-martial was one of the most distasteful he ever received.

Just one more note…I’ve never served, and as hard as I have tried to get my terminology correct and not be disrespectful, I admit that I may have made a misstep. Please feel free to correct me. – Thanks

http://ift.tt/2zH7uho

[jessemcdonnellq86]

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In Memoriam: Billy Mitchell, Father of the United States Air Force

In 1906 — two years before he witnessed a flying demonstration by Orville Wright — Billy Mitchell, an instructor at the Army Signal School, saw the future of war: in the coming years, battles would be fought and won in the air. After coming home from WWI with a reputation as a top combat airman, he campaigned for increased investment in air power at the cost of maintaining a large surface fleet.

When his pleas fell on deaf ears, he became more strident and more outspoken, believing the future of the United States to be at stake. So strong was his desire to be heard that he openly criticized his superiors, angering Army and Navy administrators and at least three presidents in the process. An abrasive and caustic man, he was court-martialed in 1925, found guilty, and suspended, essentially ending his military career…but not before organizing a demonstration that showed the potential of air superiority. Billy Mitchell died in 1936, years before he could dream of seeing his beliefs come good—but his impact on military doctrine cannot be overstated.

With this In Memoriam, we’ll be looking at the life and legacy of this complicated and controversial man.

Early Life and Career

Billy Mitchell was born on December 29th, 1879, to Wisconsin Senator John L. Mitchell and his wife Harriet. Mitchell grew up near Milwaukee, WI, and enlisted as a private at the age of 18. His father’s political influence granted young Mitchell an opportunity for a commission, and he joined the US Army Signal Corps (which develops, tests, and manages communications and information systems for the US Military) with the goal of fighting in the Spanish-American War.

Lt. Mitchell in Alaska

The war ended before he saw any action, but he stayed with the Army Signal Corps, and in 1900 was sent to the District of Alaska to oversee the establishment of a communication system to connect the many isolated outposts and gold rush camps. It was there where Mitchell, now a Lieutenant, read about the monumental glider experiments performed by Otto Lilienthal,   who was the first person to document repeatable, successful flights with unpowered aircraft. These experiments had a profound impact on Mitchell, and in 1906, while an instructor at the Army Signal School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he gave his now-famous prediction about the future of warfare.

But it wasn’t the only of Mitchell’s predictions that came true. In 1912, upon a tour of the battlefields of the Russo-Japanese War, he concluded that war with Japan was inevitable. Later, he went so far as to predict that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor without a formal declaration of war. In this regard, Billy Mitchell was a true visionary.

In 1916, at age 37, he finally took flying private lessons at great personal expense (he was disqualified from formal military training due to age and rank). In July, 1916, he was promoted to Major and appointed Chief of the Air Services of the First Army.

WWI

Mitchell was sent to France as an observer in 1917, a task for which he was uniquely suited, thanks to his exceptional organizational and writing skills, and the fact that he spoke French. It was there where he began collaborating with senior aviation leadership from Britain and France, who taught Mitchell the basics of aerial combat strategy and major air operations. Among these was British Major General Hugh “Boom” Trenchard, himself known as “Father of the Royal Air Force,” who had been establishing the airpower playbook for years before Mitchell arrived.

At the onset of America’s entry into WWI, the Army Signal Corps Aviation Section (the “air force” then) had just over 50 aircraft, many not operational. Just a year and a half later, Billy Mitchell, now a Brigadier General, was given command of all American air units in General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force, and orchestrated the air campaign of the Battle of St. Mihiel, coordinating nearly 1,500 Allied aircraft. What started inauspiciously ended as a major triumph—a testament to both America’s industrial prowess and to Mitchell’s exceptional command.

As Mitchell once wrote about the battle, “It was the first time in history in which an air force, cooperating with an army, was to act according to a broad strategical plan.” And it was a success. This further cemented Mitchell’s beliefs about the power of controlling the skies. “[WWI had] conclusively shown that aviation was a dominant element in the making of war, even in the relatively small way in which it was used,” he wrote.

Mitchell (left) with his gunner, leaning against a Spad aircraft

Though given his initial command because of his status, he proved to be a daring and uniquely qualified leader. For his actions, he was given the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal. 

More importantly, these successes contributed to his core belief that the Air Service had to be well-prepared at the start of the next great war, or the US could potentially lose before it ever fought.

He would spend the rest of his career working towards that preparedness…and openly challenging those who opposed.

Post-War: The Crusade Begins (1919-1921)

Mitchell knew very well that the “War to End All Wars” had accomplished something short of its moniker, and that “If a nation ambitious for universal conquest gets off to a flying start in a war of the future, it may be able to control the whole world more easily than a nation has controlled a continent in the past.”

To his horror, demobilization was the order of the day. Of the nearly 200,000 officers and men who were assigned to the Air Service at the end of the war, only 10% remained. He was appalled.

He did everything he could to prepare for the next conflict. To that end, he encouraged pilots to set world speed records to raise public consciousness. He organized long-distance air routes and simulated bombing attacks on New York. He proposed a special corps of mechanics, troop-carrying aircraft, bombers capable of transatlantic range, and—most notably—bombsights.

Mitchell in his element

But Mitchell knew that these small victories could only accomplish so much. True preparedness would require a fundamental change in thinking at the top levels of military leadership. He took every opportunity to advocate for the establishment of a separate, independent air force at the cost of spending on the surface fleet…which put him in direct conflict with US Navy leadership, notably Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt (this was the first future or sitting president Mitchell’s behavior would incense).

Understanding what Mitchell was up against requires an understanding of the Navy doctrine of the day—the Mahanian Doctrine. In 1892, Alfred Thayer Mahan, former Rear Admiral for the U.S. Navy, released his seminal work titled The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire. The book, in short, claimed that national greatness was inexorably linked with command of the sea by means of “capital ships, not too large but numerous, well-manned with crews thoroughly trained.” Mahan became world-famous, his work influencing the military elite in Great Britain, France, Japan, and here in the US.

It cannot be overstated just how pervasive Mahanian Doctrine was at the time. To those in senior leadership positions, a country’s military might was measured in battleships.

Of course, Mitchell disagreed vehemently. He maintained that expensive dreadnoughts could be easily sunk by bombs dropped from an aircraft. Mitchell faced an uphill battle. And if senior military leadership wouldn’t listen to him, he would plead his case to congress, media, public, and anyone else who would listen.

Mitchell’s beliefs can be summarized briefly:

Dreadnoughts had become obsolete, and could be destroyed easily by bombs dropped from aircraft.

There should exist an independent Air Force, equal to the Army and Navy.

A force of anti-warship airplanes could defend a coast more economically than coastal guns and naval vessels, and that the use of “floating bases” was necessary to defend the nation from naval threats.

The United States needed the ability to strike at the industrial heart of enemy powers via strategic bombing. (Please note that this is not a complete representation of his beliefs.)

The media by and large took his side, and argued that Mitchell should be allowed to conduct tests on actual warships, either captured or soon to be scuttled.

He would soon get his chance.

Project B: The Sinking of the Ostfriesland (1921)

After some pressure from the media and from congress, Secretary of War Newton Baker and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels agreed to a demonstration, held on July 20, 1921, whereby Mitchell’s aircraft would try to sink a captured German ship called the Ostfriesland.

True to form, Mitchell oversaw every aspect of preparing, right down to the building of the one-ton bombs.

The rules of the test favored the survivability of the ship—Navy construction experts would get to examine the ship between each bombing run—but Mitchell was never one to let rules get in the way of proving his point. Directing the action from his biplane Osprey, he had his airmen bombard the Ostfriesland…and in a 20-minute period, it sank to the bottom of the sea.

Sinking of the Ostfriesland, from the US Army Air Service Photographic School

Though the results were “dubious” to some…he had broken the rules, and perhaps a well-trained damage control team could patch the hull…the captured battleship was indeed sunk by aerial bombs — a fact that was impossible to ignore.

He replicated the results by sinking the retired battleship USS Alabama in September of the same year, angering President Warren Harding (the second President to react this way to Mitchell), who didn’t want any show of weakness before the Washington Naval Conference.

A wonderful photo of the retired USS Alabama getting hit by a white phosphorous bomb

Mitchell’s campaign was tireless. To fight the status quo, he had to resort to stronger and stronger rhetoric, often agitating—even embarrassing— his superiors. “All aviation policies, schemes and systems are dictated by the non-flying officers of the Army and Navy, who know practically nothing about it,” he said publicly. He ruffled a few feathers, to say the least.

As a punishment, sr. staff sent him to Hawaiii, but he only returned with a scathing review of the lack of preparedness. Then, they sent him to Asia…but it only served to deepen his conviction that war with Japan was inevitable. These two anecdotes are very revealing of the man’s character and ambition: he knew he was being exiled, but still did his best to warn sr. leadership of vulnerabilities. This was, for all intents and purposes, classic Billy Mitchell.

When he returned in 1924, he offered yet another eerily accurate prediction: “His theory was that the military strength of the United State was so great, in Japanese eyes, that Japan could win a war only by using the most advanced methods possible. Those methods would include the extensive use of aircraft,” wrote Gen. James Doolittle in his book I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography.

One very important thing remains to be said about the sinking of the Ostfriesland. Just days after, Congress funded the very first aircraft carrier.

The Court-Martial (1925)

He kept crusading, and little by little, funding for aviation was increased. Still, though, leadership dragged its feet. And more airmen were paying the price. The aging aircraft were becoming dangerous to fly. A Navy plane en route to Hawaii a crashed into the sea. Two days later, a Navy dirigible over Ohio crashed. Mitchell, now especially angry, stepped up the scathing rhetoric.

In September 1925, he issued a stunning statement:

“These incidents are the direct result of the incompetency, criminal negligence, and almost treasonable administration of the national defense by the Navy and War Departments.”

This proved to be the final straw.

One month later, a charge with eight specifications was proffered against Mitchell under the 96th Article of War. This came from the direct order of President Calvin Coolidge, the third president to take umbrage at Mitchell’s methods.

Mitchell standing stoically amidst the tumult of his court-martial

Mitchell welcomed the court-martial if it forced the public to take notice.

Unsurprisingly, Mitchell was found guilty of all specifications and of the charge. He was suspended from active duty for five years without pay, which was amended by President Coolidge to half pay. Instead, he resigned on February 1st, 1926, and spent the next decade campaigning for air power to anyone he could.

Billy Mitchell died on February 19th, 1936 at the age of 56.

The Measure of a Man

Billy Mitchell’s legacy is complicated. Was he caustic and overzealous in his pursuit of a unified, separate Air Force? Yes. Was his court-martial and subsequent guilty verdict deserved? Absolutely. He was openly insubordinate to his superiors—who, by the way, were great men, American heroes.

But he was absolutely right.

Without him, we may not have been prepared to fight WWII in the air. “Many of his observations were proven during WWII, and his ultimate goal of an independent air force was realized in September 1947, over 11 years after Mitchell’s death,” wrote Lt. Col. Johnny R. Jones, USAF, in the Foreword of his compilation of Mitchell’s unpublished writings. In 1946, 10 years after his deatch

He was decades ahead of other airpower theorists of his time, and without him, who knows what the state of air services would have been in WWII? The answer to that questions…and so many others…we will never get.

Billy Mitchell was a fine commander, an exceptional coordinator, and, above all, a man of great courage who knowingly sacrificed his career to challenge the status quo and to educate politicians, policy-makers, and the public on matter of aviation. He was a visionary who saw the future of airpower so clearly that his words still ring true now. We owe him a debt we can never properly repay.

Today, we honor Major General William Lendrum “Billy” Mitchell, as we honor so many others for their sacrifices in serving our great nation. Thank you, Billy, and thank you to all those who serve and have served.

Notes

In limiting the scope of this article, I’ve done a major disservice to two men who contributed a great deal to aviation in Mitchell’s time. The first is General Benjamin Foulois, Mitchell’s chief rival and an aviator who learned to fly the first military planes purchased from the Wright Brothers. The second is Major General Mason Patrick, whose steady hand brought about the establishment of the Army Air Corps in 1926—and who often had to clean up the messes left behind in the constant sparring between Mitchell and Foulois.

It would be disingenuous to claim that everyone in senior leadership positions disagreed with Billy Mitchell. Admiral William S. Sims once said “The average man suffers very severely from the pain of a new idea…it is my belief that the future will show that the fleet that has 20 airplane carriers instead of 16 battleships and 4 airplane carriers will inevitably knock the other fleet out.”

A by-product of my decision to focus on Mitchell’s great courage in sparring with his superiors is that I haven’t done justice to his exceptional training and organizational skills. There’s a wealth of information on the subject out there on the internet; my favorite was “Billy Mitchell and the Great War, Reconsidered,” by James J. Cooke, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Mississippi.

Mitchell was a gifted writer, and his output was prodigious: more than 60 articles for publication, several newspaper series, and five books, all of which aimed to provide a “public understanding of the promise and potential of air power.” – “William ‘Billy’ Mitchell: Air Power Visionary,” C.V. Glines, Historynet.com

In 1930, Mitchell boldly predicted that his children would live to see the US go to space. Again, he was right.

Mitchell wasn’t always right. He significantly undervalued aircraft carriers, thinking them incapable of launching enough aircraft to be significant contributors to victory. He later changed course on the matter.

During the court-martial, Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur voted “not guilty” on the basis that a senior officer should not be silenced for disagreeing with his superiors in rank and with accepted doctrine. MacArthur later said that the order to sit on the court-martial was one of the most distasteful he ever received.

Just one more note…I’ve never served, and as hard as I have tried to get my terminology correct and not be disrespectful, I admit that I may have made a misstep. Please feel free to correct me. – Thanks

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[tortuga-aak]

The Navy's $500 million electromagnetic railgun will likely never see combat

usnavyresearch/YouTube

The Office of Naval Research’s much-hyped electromagnetic railgun prototype is finally capable of flexing its futuristic muscles.

After more than a decade of research and development and more than more than $500 million it will likely never see combat.

The electromagnetic railgun could land in a “valley of death” between R&D and procurement.

It can fire a solid metal slug at speeds of up to 4,500 mph, or Mach 6. It can hit targets up to 100 nautical miles away. It’s capable of defeating incoming ballistic missiles and liquefying even the most durable enemy armor, the equivalent of a weaponized meteor strike fired from the world’s most powerful gun.

After more than a decade of research and development and more than more than $500 million, the Office of Naval Research’s much-hyped electromagnetic railgun prototype is finally capable of flexing its futuristic muscles — but despite the swirl of science-fiction excitement surrounding the muscular new cannon, it will likely never see combat, Task & Purpose has learned. According to interviews with several congressional and military sources, the much-hyped supergun has come under scrutiny from lawmakers and military planners thanks to the Strategic Capabilities Office, the once-classified department created in 2012 to fast-track new tech languishing in the DoD’s sprawling bureaucracy, and develop, as then-Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter once put it, “game-changing capabilities to confound potential enemies.”

With SCO’s interest drawn to other weapons systems, ONR may end up without the necessary funding to push the exceedingly complex railgun toward a critical testing milestone — a delay that, with increasing budget pressures and the DoD’s shifting strategic priorities, could condemn the decade-long project to an inescapable limbo of research and tinkering far from any ship.

‘They’re simply not buying it’

Over the last decade, the Pentagon has funneled money into the development of several next-generation, directed-energy weapons through the Navy’s Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriations: The electromagnetic railgun, which has been in development since 2005 in conjunction with defense contractors General Atomics and BAE Systems; the hypervelocity projectile (HVP), a super dense, low-drag tungsten projectile designed as specialized ammo for the railgun; and solid-state lasers, long-time fixations of every service branch and a near-term short-range missile defense for surface vessels.

As of a Nov. 30 Congressional Research Service update, electromagnetic railgun research was progressing in line with the ONR roadmap that once envisioned installing the completed weapon on a destroyer like the USS Zumwalt by the mid-2020s.

In recent years, however, SCO has turned its attention to the HVP: once developed explicitly for the railgun, the super-dense shell’s compatibility with conventional powder artillery, offering a cheaper and less technically complex alternative to the Pentagon’s incomplete supergun for not just the Navy, but the Army to rapidly equip.

“SCO shifted the project’s focus to conventional powder guns, facilitating a faster transition of HVP technology to the warfighter,” SCO spokesman Chris Sherwood told Task & Purpose.

usnavyresearch/YouTube

“Our priority continues to be the HVP, which is reflected in the program’s budget.”

Researchers and policymakers confident on the system’s potential now fear that the reallocation of railgun funding at SCO’s behest will end up forestalling the successful installation and demonstration of a tactical rig aboard a naval vessel.

According to multiple legislative and military sources, insufficient funding for the railgun in the current defense budget will grind any meaningful progress to a halt, condemning efforts to R&D purgatory.

As one defense contractor with direct knowledge of the project recently told Task & Purpose, underfunding railgun now would effectively render the decade-long supergun project “dead in the water” by 2019.

“People at SCO don’t want to fund the railgun because they’re simply not buying it,” one senior legislative official with direct knowledge of the project told Task & Purpose. “They are imparting that priority on to Big Navy, which is pulling the money away from ONR.”

One last push

In the year since publishing the jaw-dropping footage of a tactical electromagnetic railgun demonstrator at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division’s Terminal Range in Virginia in November 2016, ONR has been working diligently alongside defense contractors BAE System and General Atomics to bring the supergun closer to combat readiness.

usnavyresearch/YouTube

A second video released in July showed the rig firing off multi-shot salvos on Dahlgren’s 25-mile Potomac River test range. Through massive, repeated pulses of energy over a short period with minimal cooldown time, the railgun managed to fire 4.8 shells a minute, inching closer to the requirements laid out by Naval Sea Systems Command in a 2013 call for demonstrators that could fire 10 shells a minute and store up to 650 shells.  While ONR’s rep-rate demonstrations at Dahlgren represent a major leap forward for the railgun, the system still faces major technical hurdles that make the HVP a relatively inexpensive alternative.

Generating the electromagnetic fields necessary to accelerate a shell to tank-liquefying velocities without chemical propellants requires an energy farm or capacitor base significantly larger than what most Navy surface vessels can generate currently.

Next-generation “electric warships” like the Zumwalt can channel 78 megawatts from their generators through its power-distribution network, making them ideal for all manner of directed-energy weapons, but other surface vessels would require a major overhaul of their electrical infrastructure for the “pulsed-power architecture” required for multi-shot salvos. 

The crucial railgun component that may threaten the entire effort is the “common mount.” A universal system for equipping sea or land-based platforms with a mass-produced tactical electromagnetic railgun, a 2016 House Armed Services Committee report noted that lawmakers were increasingly worried that SCO’s newfound HVP fetish “[had] left the Navy with a funding gap in developing the requirements and design for a common mount, which is a necessary prerequisite to getting this capability into operational use.” No mount, no tactical demonstrations — and, in turn, no railgun.

Without actually mounting a working demonstrator on a surface vessel, sources say, the electromagnetic railgun could land in a “valley of death” between R&D and procurement that may prevent the ambitious, decade-long project from ever going to war.

As with most technological moonshots, success and failure are a matter of optics: If the ONR can’t show off something with a Tony Stark-level “wow” factor for the military planners and lawmakers who pull ONR’s purse strings, researchers risk letter their political capital on Capitol Hill and in the Pentagon E-ring slip away.

“Promising technologies fall into the ‘valley of death’ all the time,” a legislative source told Task & Purpose. “Testing is great, but unless you want to put money into transitioning that tech into an actual weapons system then what the hell are you doing? We’re afraid to take a risk and try to get things moving.”

The railgun’s advocates know the supergun is in trouble. In July, Rep. Jim Langevin, a Democrat from Rhode Island and co-chair of the Congressional Directed Energy Caucus, recommended an additional $26.4 million SCO outlays in the House Armed Service Committee’s version of the 2018 defense budget explicitly earmarked as “transition funding” for a shipboard tactical railgun demonstrator program, the second legislative boost to the project alongside an additional $15 million added to the Innovative Naval Prototypes line item by the Senate, according to an amendment justification obtained by Task & Purpose.

According to the Navy’s 2017 strategic program guide, the bulk of the appropriations already designated under that item line are for developing the thermal-management techniques that both the launcher and pulsed-power architecture require for that target sustained firing rate of 10 shells a minute.

The three-month continuing resolution passed in September offered a brief reprieve for advocates to make the case for an additional millions in transition funding to achieve a successful shipboard demonstration, and as of late November, lawmakers had authorized just $15 million of Langevin’s $26 million railgun amendment, funding the congressman told Task & Purpose would likely boost R&D efforts on the common mount.

“Our Navy must be given the ability to test this weapon’s lethality, range, and power at scale, and it must continue to develop the common mount prototype to take this technology to the next level for a shipboard demonstration,” Langevin told Task & Purpose.

But even though the NDAA is now in President Trump’s hands, the coming appropriations fight looming represents yet another uphill battle for the railgun program, putting ONR researchers who have devoted a decade to the project “in a constant state of stress,” as one legislative source put it. 

“We’ll take it,” they told Task & Purpose of the $15 million approved by Congress, “but nobody has any idea what will happen after Dec. 8.”

Changing priorities

Task and Purpose

Despite the pleas of devoted researchers and congressional allies, the electromagnetic railgun will live and die at the whims of high-level decision-makers at the Department of Defense.

According to legislative and military sources, the legislative uncertainty and ONR’s resulting year-long charm offensive surrounding the supergun are shaped by changing strategic priorities within SCO, which wields considerable clout when it comes to developing next-generation weapons systems.

In 2015, SCO realized that the HVP, originally conceived as a specialized shell of the railgun, was just as effective when fired from a conventional powder cannons like the Army’s 105mm and 155mm M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers and the Navy’s deck-mounted Mk 45 5-inch guns.

A May 2016 report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment found that large caliber guns could fire an HVP between 10 and 30 nautical miles at Mach 3, faster than conventional unguided rounds.  

“We thought railguns were something we were really going to go after,” then-Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work stated at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. in May 2016. “But it turns out that powder guns firing the same hypervelocity projectiles gets you almost as much as you would get out of the electromagnetic rail gun, but it’s something we can do much faster.”

Wikimedia Commons

The potential for rapid fielding across both the Army and Navy proved an alluring prospect for SCO’s mission, one that trumped the railgun’s hype.

When asked about the organization’s priorities, SCO spokesman Chris Sherwood confirmed to Task & Purpose that the office is focused on “developing the [HVP] for use in existing powder gun systems to give the Navy and Army near-term, cost-effective long-range fires and missile defense solutions.” Translation: Why invest in an expensive gun if the bullet alone can get the job done?

SCO has publically emphasize that it’s not abandoning the electromagnetic railgun outright. SCO chief William Roper insisted during a July 2016 conference that months after Work’s dismissal of the railgun, the new focus on the HVP would not jeopardize ONR’s work on the fearsome cannon.

“[It’s] not that we’re not interested in railgun — we are,” he said. “But if you look at the delta between fielding in quantity — we have [more than] a 1,000 powder guns, we have very few railguns.”

But according to military and legislative sources, SCO already squandered a shot at helping ONR achieve its critical shipboard installation milestone. In the internal justification memo obtained by Task & Purpose, Rep. Langevin’s office attributed the cut to transition funding under the 2017 defense budget to SCO, “[the] initial entity responsible for work done on the railgun mount, which they subsequently never undertook, leaving the responsibility to the Navy.”

Budget crunch

The problem of transition funding facing the electromagnetic railgun isn’t totally unique. Congressional budget anxieties frequently kill ambitious weapons development projects; consider the 7.62mm Interim Combat Service Rifle, the extra-lethal combat rifle solicited by the Army to defeat enemy body armor that ended up dead on the vine.

Task and Purpose

As one congressional source put it, “the greater question of uncertainty is: Just how much priority will the Navy and DoD give on the railgun in the coming years?”

An analysis of the Navy’s 2018 RDT&E funding request by Task & Purpose reveals significant changes in the line items that govern directed-energy systems. Appropriations for Power Projection Applied Research fell from $88.94 million in FY 2016 to $13.6 million in FY 2018 due to a reallocation of funding from railgun barrel testing; similarly, appropriation for Future Naval Capabilities Advanced Technology Development fell from $251.17 million in FY 2016 to $205.6 million, although this was partially due to the ramp-down of additional HVP research & development under that specific line item.

This isn’t to say the railgun is now completely without funding — Congress appears poised to fund a new Innovative Naval Prototypes line item to the tune of $163.1 million for a demonstrator, but the shifting funds reflect the SCO’s desire to separate the HVP from ONR’s existing suite of directed-energy programs.

“Money is being put into HVP, and not railgun projects, which is why the two are being split,” as one senior legislative official told Task & Purpose. “We’ve been able to rescue some of this funding, but Big Navy sees different opportunities, and because [the railgun] is a major challenge, they don’t want to explore it.”

As far as the Navy is concerned, the focus has remained on the core of the railgun project: the pure science and research that could, in time, put the futuristic weapons of tomorrow within the Pentagon’s grasp.  “ONR’s intention is to continue working on the system, continuing to maturing the components, and moving towards demonstrating a full-scale 32 megajoule launcher and pulsed power system capable of high repetition firing,” ONR spokesman David Smalley told Task & Purpose, declining to comment on funding decisions. “The S&T has continued to make great technical progress and there have been no show stoppers to date to prevent the Navy from having a railgun in the future.”

NOW WATCH: 6 airline industry secrets that will help you fly like a pro

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[kronecker-delta]

The final part I completed before I lost any remaining motivation. Shame.

More Metal Gear/Victoria below. Also contains references to Revengence and Metal Wolf Chaos as they had been requested in the forum at that time.

Originally posted on Spacebattles.

*Post chapter 20 I believe in Victoria, though I’d begun to diverge from the books canon a bit by now.

***

1400 Hours: Grey skies hung low over the city. It had rained earlier. Droplets of water hung on the surface of the window. He could see outside on the grounds where the guards walked their patrols, boots speckled with mud and ponchos still damp. After the President’s assassination the remains of the current administration were taking every possible precaution. General Wesley Clark, acting commander of the US Armed Forces turned from the window as he heard a knock on the door. His assistant looked in after a moment. At a nod from the general he opened the door and ushered in the first of his visitors from Colorado. “Well Clark, I’m here,” Senator Armstrong said as he strode into the room. He pushed a chair to the side and sat heavily. A small white cloth pulled from his suit pocket and drying his glasses while pointedly ignoring the two that followed him in. “I hope you’ve got a damn good reason for having me fly out here when we’re still trying to put down the last remnants of the Colorado Insurrection.” The Emmerichs seated themselves far on the other side of the room. Clark was a little surprised that only one of them had in arrived casual clothes. He didn’t mind truthfully. Jeans and sneakers were almost expected from cloistered technical geniuses. If anything the fact that Sunny Emmerich had suit nearly as nice as Armstrong’s, if in miniature, was the unexpected. Though she’d eagerly approached to shake his hand where her adopted father had shyly stayed back. “I’m glad you could all arrive on such short notice. I’m even happier to know that you were all available to come in the first place. Our enemies have managed to compromise a considerable amount of the traditional intelligence organizations,” Clark said as he sat down behind the polished mahogany desk. “Luckily your own well learned paranoia has kept you safe from them thus far.” “Cut the crap Clark. Half the country is tearing itself apart and most of the beltway regulars have caught the contagious crazy. Hell, they just had to drag the Governor of Idaho off as he started pledging to outlaw human reproduction in order to heal mother Gaia or some hippy nonsense.” “That was rather odd,” Hal Emmerich said. Looking to the side as the Senator’s gaze focused on him. He reached up and adjusted his own glasses nervously before continuing. “I mean didn’t he vote against a climate control initiative just last year?” “He did. Based on the altered behavior and sudden shifts in personality we suspect some kind of psychic agents,” General Clark said. “Though we have other proof that they have been engaging in a long term infiltration campaign using mind control techniques.” “Mind control?” said Sunny Emmerich as she stood up from her chair. “But there’s only been one known psychic with that level of strength. And he’s been dead for over a decade.” “She’s right. I was there at Shadow Moses Island. No one else has those sorts of abilities… and if they did, why haven’t they gotten to you as well?” “Nanomachines son,” Armstrong said with a smirk as he answered Hal’s question while tapping his head. “Fourth generation psi dampeners keyed to your unique neurological structure. Not many government officials went to the trouble of getting them instead of the stuff you can get with a quick shot. Should have went for the top shelf.” “But what proof do you have of any of this? I mean civil unrest often accompanies plagues and economic disasters. The last half decade have set historical records for those events so is a conspiracy of programmed double agents really more likely?” Sunny paused for a moment as the three others focused their attention on her. “I mean that’s just from what I’ve read about this sort of thing anyway.” General Clark nodded slightly to her statement. “Normally I’d agree with you… but we’ve other evidence. That corroborates this conclusion.” And then there was a fifth person in the room. “Biological optical camouflage?! But that’s impossible! You’d have to… well you’d have a completely inhumane epidermis to even begin to display such traits…” “So… this disaster has even dragged someone like you out of hiding?” Armstrong said before turning back towards Clark. “So what does one of Cipher’s monsters have to add?” Quiet turned cold glare on the senator. Armstrong merely spread his hands while smiling. “We don’t have time for this.” Depressing a button on his desk closed the curtains and slowly lowered a projection screen. As the lights dimmed General Clark seated himself once more. “She was the one responsible for rescuing Governor Fullerton as well as the federal hostages during the fall of Boston. I’ve been hiring her covertly once the extent of our enemy’s infiltration became evident. But retrieving a few political hostages is far from the extent of her accomplishments.” The screen behind him flickered blue as the image of grim faced American soldier was shown. “I met him on the Constantine. He was with the CMC.” Quiet signed, the electronic reader attached to her right arm obediently translating into digitized speech. “He used a gas to induce hallucinations.” “The man who Quiet met was Gunny Matthews. As a young Marine he was involved in certain experiments with chemical stimulants and hallucinogens during the seventies. I’m sure some of you are aware of the official story regarding those projects,” General Clark said as the screen flickered showing the records and death certificates for the other subjects from the same experiment. “W-well in the 1950s the CIA conducted experiments with LSD exposure. While officially those tests eventually came to a stop…” “Unofficially we continued to experiment with chemically assisted psychological warfare. Both within ‘official’ government research facilities and black ops organizations like Cipher. And they discovered that while there was little use of the advanced chemical stimulants and aerosolized hallucinogens in combat they had a remarkable effect on psychic abilities. Both strengthening the user as well as weakening the will of those being controlled. The lack of many powerful psychics limited the project but- “ “Not that your explanation of government funded spook powers isn’t fascinating Clark,” Armstrong said, “but could we perhaps focus on the fact that the Russians apparently had an American Governor held hostage on one of their naval vessels?” “That wasn’t all I found,” Quiet signed. “Yes, we have something even worse to worry about. I’m sure you’ve all been wondering why we’ve stopped trying to directly retake the northeast. While onboard the Constantine Quiet discovered this,” General Clark displayed another image and looked up to see shock and surprise evident on nearly every face. “Is that what I think it is?” “A multi range rail gun… part of a firing system for variable payloads. One designed to be mounted on a bipedal weapons platform. And there were clear signs that the ship was carrying two of them when it approached the coast of Nova Scotia four months ago.” Clark’s expression was especially grim as he continued. “The answer is clear. They have a nuclear armed metal gear active in their territory.” “Oh god no! It’s happening again…” Hal said as he sat down. Face downcast and legs weak as his adopted daughter placed a hand on his shoulder. “What are we going to do?” “So that’s why we stopped the airstrikes?” “Yes, along with the disastrous events where our forward strike force heading out of New York suddenly surrendered to a numerically and militarily inferior force only to be… tried for the crimes that our citizens started claiming they committed.” “That was rather surprising… I guess you didn’t have our boys in NBC gear?” “No Armstrong. We didn’t expect them to so flagrantly violate the Geneva convention.” General Clark’s eyes narrowed at the smile on the Senator’s face. “I suppose you would have?” “Would and did. Though I can’t take all the credit. World Marshall kept the riots under control in Denver but the insurrectionists were captured thanks to Arizona Congressman Michael Wilson. They tried to move the center of their rebellion into his state following their defeat in mine. It… didn’t pan out too well for them.” “Well at least we have some good news,” Clark said, turning back to his desk console and bringing up a new image. “Since the assassination of the supposed leader of the Northern Confederacy we’ve been trying to track down the current commander. Both of the CMC and the insurrection as a whole. And we think we’ve succeeded.” A series of images soon flashed onto the projection screen. He wore fatigues with a CMC armband, and his eerily pale skin clear even in the lower quality of the distant images. Beside him was a portly, if not somewhat obese man in a Prussian military uniform complete with Pickelhaube. “Who’s the Halloween costume freak?” Armstrong asked. “And what’s with his dead eyed friend?” “The man in the Prussian uniform has been identified as William Kraft. The so-called Craftman, he worked with soviet bloc states to train double agents before the Berlin Wall fell. Though supposedly his abilities extended well beyond that. We had been trying to track him down for years. But apparently he’s been hiding right under our noses the whole time. With his own little reprogramming center somewhere in Maine,” Clark paused for a long moment before continuing. “We don’t have anything official on his conspirator. Save that one of the Boston PD got out and later reported a man matching his description introducing himself as the commandant of the CMC. He claims to be an ex-Marine lieutenant. But there’s no record of an officer Rumlind ever having served in any branch of the US military. Everything the man says or does is a constructed lie designed to mislead others and to obscure the truth.” “That’s the next mission you have for me then?” “Correct. I contacted the Emmerich’s for their expertise in both bipedal weapons and electronic warfare. They will be functioning as support staff since finding and neutralizing their nuclear capability is to be considered a primary objective of this operation. Along with locating Kraft’s base of operations so that we can hopefully find out the names and identities of the Manchurian agents that have undergone programming by him.” “And assassinate him and the other conspirators?” “Yes. While under normal circumstances capture and trial might be preferable the danger they represent is such that we want them terminated.” Soon a map of Massachusetts was projected showing likely routes of movement corresponding to the sightings of Kraft and the unknown conspirator. Along with positions where allied radio responses were received… Until the communications went dark three days ago. “So we did lose some Green Berets up there?” Armstrong asked. “Just a few, doing reconnaissance for this mission in fact. They weren’t the ones that performed the assassination though. We think that was inner party conflicts between lesser members of the conspirators. Or perhaps something engineered by Kraft or Rumlind. Either way they used it to justify the president’s assassination last week. While there was nothing we could determine from his identity to track down Kraft we’ve received communications from up north. One of our soldiers is still free and sending intel. He’s also discovered where Kraft retreats to. Or the latest location perhaps.” Clark turned his gaze entirely onto Quiet. “You need to obtain that information. And you need to get it before they move the operations and we lose Kraft again.” “Your ultimate goal beyond removing their ability to launch a nuclear strike is to silence these terrorists before they can cause any more death and destruction.” *** “Yes Armstrong?” Clark asked. The Senator had hung back as the Emmerichs had left with Quiet to go over likely metal gear versions to be in use and the means to disable them. With the curtains open again the setting sun reflected as a pair dying embers from his glasses. “Is there something else you want?” “Perhaps. If I understand correctly I think you’re now the man to talk to this about. I feel that given recent… entanglements from our Tsarist friends we should reconsider my proposals.” “Congress is in no position to vote on military cybridization right now.” “Fuck those idiots. I don’t need their approval. The public is too weak to see what we need to keep this country safe. To keep America strong anyway,” Armstrong said, gesturing wildly his clenched fist striking at the air. “No… I’ve got plans to put those designs into operation under World Marshall and other subsidiary PMCs. But… the boys at the lab could use some of the things you dug up.” “You can’t mean…” “I want everything you have on Frank Jeager’s resurrection. I know you confiscated the labs where it was done and the data the Patriots had stored on it. With that we can go from mere bionics to full body prosthetic combat enhancement. Give me that and I’ll see to it that we get a non-US military force to retake Boston within a week. No chance for sleeper agents in them… I guarantee it.” “Despite the chemical control they’re still American citizens Armstrong.” “I’ll have them wear the kiddy gloves. No massacres on US soil. This isn’t my first trip to the rodeo.” “… Fine. I’ll see to it that the confiscated assets and research data are turned over.”