Archive for December, 2022
THE FRIDAY FOTO (December 30, 2022)
HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD … ON HIS SIX.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Zachary Rufus) Please click on the photo to enlarge the image.
Air Force Colonel Cameron “GLOVER” Dadgar, commander of the Nevada Test and Training Range flies over the range during an Exercise Red Flag 22-3 mission at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, on July 12, 2022.
For THE FRIDAY FOTO’s last posting of 2022, we thought we’d feature one of the many spectacular photos included in the Defense Department’s DOD in Photos 2022 collection. To see some more photos, click here. You’ll notice several of the pictures taken by service members over the past year have apeared in THE FRIDAY FOTO.
The Nevada Test and Training Range is the U.S. Air Force’s premier military training area with more that 12,000 square miles of air space and 2.9 million acres of land.
The “SIX” in this week’s headline refers to the military term “Check Your Six,” which means “Check Behind You” to avoid a sneak attack from the rear. For a more detailed explanation, click here.
Almost forgot, thanks for visiting 4GWAR Blog and our weekly FRIDAY FOTO featuring the wonderful, informative and sometimes quirky photographs taken by members of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, National Guard and Space Force. Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR. See you in 2023!
SHAKO: Amphibious Assault Ship, USS Fallujah and Other Name Controversies UPDATE
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
“What’s in a name,” the poet and playwright William Shakespeare asked in Romeo and Juliet. Quite a lot, apparently, for many people in the United States — especially in Congress and the Defense Department.
In the wake of the death of George Floyd in police custody, and the ensuing societal reckoning on racial injustice and the enduring legacy of slavery, public opinion turned against honoring the men who rebelled against the United States and fought to defend slavery.
More than 100 monuments and statues of Confederate leaders were removed by local officials in cities like Richmond, Virginia, New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. Others in Birmingham, Alabama; Raleigh, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. were toppled by protestors.
Confederate War Memorial of Dallas, Texas was removed in 2020 and put in storage. (Photo by MarK Arthur, via Wikipedia/Creative Commons)
And in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law No: 116-283), Congress directed the establishment of “a commission relating to assigning, modifying, or removing of names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia to assets of the Department of Defense that commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.”
In its final report, the commission recommended new names for nine military bases all named after Confederate officers (Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Polk, Louisiana; Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia; and Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett — all in Virginia).
The commission also made recommendations for renaming buildings, streets and other facilities, and removing monuments honoring Confederate leaders at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York and the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis Maryland.
During the same period the commission looked at Navy ships and facilities, leading Navy Secretary Carlos Del Torro to announce in September that the cruiser USS Chancellorsville, named for an 1863 Civil War battle the Confederacy won, and the oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury, named for Confederate Navy officer Matthew Fontaine Maury, would be renamed.
Needless to say, many groups and individuals pushed back against changing the names of storied buildings at their academy, or the base where they trained before going off to war. Associations and societies of the descendants of Confederate warriors and some local politicians also took a dim view of name changes and statue removals, which they saw as an assault on their heritage and culture — and their ancestors.
Dallas Confederate War Memorial site after removal (Photo by Pete Unseth via Wikipedia)
But a controversy from an unexpected source developed recently with plans to name a new ship after a battle that had nothing to do with the Civil War or slavery. Del Torro announced on December 13 that the Navy’s newest large amphibious assault ship would be named the USS Fallujah, to commemorate two fierce battles the Marines fought in the Iraq War.
However, a Muslim civil rights group is protesting the selection of the name of the Iraqi city because the battle resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and the locals are still suffering health issues they suspect are caused by the remains of weapons used in the fighting.
“The name selection follows the tradition of naming amphibious ships after U.S. Marine Corps battles [like Makin Island or Tripoli], U.S. sailing ships [like USS Boxer and USS Kearsarge] or earlier carriers from World War II [like USS Essex], Del Torro said.
The First Battle of Fallujah occurred in April 2004 in an effort to capture or kill insurgents responsible for the killing of four U.S. contractors. The Second Battle of Fallujah, fought between November 7 and December 23, 2004, was a major U.S- led offensive to retake control of the city from insurgents and foreign fighters. With over 100 coalition forces killed and over 600 wounded, Operation Phantom Fury is considered the bloodiest engagement of the Iraq War and the fiercest urban combat involving U.S. Marines since the Vietnam War’s Battle of Hue City, according to the Navy.
“Under extraordinary odds, the Marines prevailed against a determined enemy who enjoyed all the advantages of defending in an urban area,” the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General David H. Berger, said in the Navy press release announcing the new ship’s name. “The Battle of Fallujah is, and will remain, imprinted in the minds of all Marines and serves as a reminder to our Nation, and its foes, why our Marines call themselves the world’s finest,” Berger added.
Two America-class amphibious assault ships, USS Tripoli (LHA 7) and USS America (LHA 6) sail side-by-side during a photo exercise in the Philippine Sea, September 17, 2022. The future USS Fallujah (LHA 9) will be similar to these ships but equipped with a well deck. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Christopher Lape)
But the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), self-described as the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, “called on the U.S. Navy to change the name of the future America-class amphibious assault ship ‘USS Fallujah,’” the SEAPOWER magazine website reported December 15.
The battles in Fallujah were the bloodiest fighting of the Iraq War and a painful memory for the people still living there. “Hundreds of civilians – including women and children – were killed during the battles. To this day, the civilian population is reportedly being negatively impacted by the weapons used in those battles,” CAIR said in a press statement, urging the Navy to pick another name.
“Just as our nation would never name a ship the ‘USS Abu Ghraib,’ the Navy should not name a vessel after notorious battles in Fallujah that left hundreds of civilians dead, and countless children suffering from birth defects for years afterward,” said CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell. “There must be a better name for this ship,” Mitchell added, saying “one that does not evoke horrific scenes” from what he called “an illegal and unjust war.”
When we first heard about the naming of the Fallujah, your 4GWAR editor wondered if it was too soon, in a region where U.S. troops are still fighting terrorists, to bring up a painful memory — not just for the Iraqis but for Americans and allies who fought there or lost loved ones.
Similarly, in 2020, your 4GWAR editor was struck by a FRIDAY FOTO we ran of U.S. sailors pulling a combat rubber raiding craft carrying Japanese soldiers aboard the amphibious dock landing ship, USS Pearl Harbor, in the Pacific Ocean. The photo was taken during Iron Fist, an exercise designed to enhance the ability of U.S. and Japanese forces to plan and conduct combined amphibious operations.
As mentioned, several U.S. Navy amphibious ships, like the Pearl Harbor, are named for famous Navy and Marine Corps battles — like Belleau Wood or Fort McHenry — but others have been named for World War II engagements in the Pacific: Bataan, Iwo Jima and Bougainville. Your 4GWAR editor has often wondered if these reminders of bitter defeats and costly victories more than 70 years ago cause any uncomfortable moments of reflection when the forces of the United States and Japan — now close allies — engage in joint exercises and operations.
For that matter, we wonder if the ships named USS Alamo (signature battle of the Texas Revolution) or the USS Normandy (World War II) or USS Hue City (Vietnam War) cause any irritation or ill will in Mexico, Germany or Vietnam, countries with which we now have friendly relations.
UPDATES with photos and correction, substituting USS Alamo for USS Monterey
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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.
THE FRIDAY FOTO (December 23, 2022)
A SPLASH OF COLOR.
(Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Aidan Cooney) Click on the photo to enlarge image.
Coast Guardsmen on U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star enjoy a swim call near the equator in the Pacific Ocean on December 8, 2022.
The swim call (recreational swim) came shortly after the Coast Guard’s largest ice breaker crossed the equator enroute to Antarctica for Operation Deep Freeze 2023. Each year, POLAR STAR travels from its homeport (base) in Seattle, Washington to McMurdo Station in Antarctica to lead Operation Deep Freeze and break miles of ice up to 21 feet thick.
Operation Deep Freeze is an annual joint military service mission to resupply the United States Antarctic stations in support of the National Science Foundation, lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program. See a brief video here from a Seattle TV station on the Polar Star’s departure in November.
More than 1,000 scientists, support staff and military personnel live and work at McMurdo Station during the southern hemisphere summer, when the frozen continent sees perpetual daylight, according to the Stars and Stripes website.
SHAKO: Marines Have Their First Black Female Two-Star General
ANOTHER FIRST FOR THE MARINES.
The U.S. Marine Corps now has its first black female (two star) major general.
Brig. Gen. Lorna Mahlock, director of Command, Control, Communications and Computers (C4), on August 31, 2018. (Department of Defense photo)
The Senate confirmed Major Gen. Lorna Mahlock for promotion on December 15, nine days after President Joe Biden nominated her for promotion along with seven other Marine Corps brigadier generals, according to the Pentagon.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Mahlock, 54, immigrated to Brooklyn, New York at the age of 17 in 1985. She enlisted in the Marine Corps three months later and became an air traffic controller. She became an officer through the Marines’ Enlisted Commissioning Education Program in 1991 after graduating from Marquette University.
Since then she has amassed multiple higher degrees including two masters degrees in Strategic Studies from the Army War College and the Naval Postgraduate School, according to Marine Corps Times.
Mahlock is currently serving as deputy director of Cybersecurity for Combat Support, at the National Security Agency, in Fort Meade, Maryland. Previous posts have included U.S. European Command in German, the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Japan and Marine Tactical Air Command Squadron 38 in Southern California, Stars and Stripes reported.
Then Brigadier Gen. Lorna Mahlock, Chief Information Officer of the Marine Corps, networks after addressing Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s (TMCF) 18th Annual Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C. on October 29, 2018. (U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Lance Corporal Naomi May). Click on photo to enlarge image.
It has been a remarkable year of firsts for women and minorities in the armed services:
Master Chief Information Systems Technician (Submarine) Angela Koogler was named the first female top enlisted sailor on a U.S. Navy submarine, reporting for her new post in late August. Koogler’s appointment as chief of boat on the ballistic missile submarine USS Louisiana is a historic first for the Navy, which only began assigning female officers to submarines in 2011 and female enlisted sailors in 2016.
Also in August, the U.S. Senate confirmed Marine Corps Lieutenant General Michael E. Langley for promotion to the rank of general, becoming the first Black Marine appointed to the rank of four-star general in Marine Corps history. He was also confirmed as head of U.S. Africa Command.
Additional similar achievements this year were identified by Military.com website, noting other firsts for women in the Navy and Marine Corps.
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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, cylindrical headgear with a bill or visor worn by soldiers in many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress, or parade, uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.
FRIDAY FOTO (December 16, 2022)
MARINE CORPS CHIAROSCURO.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Averi Rowton) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.
Members of the U.S. 2d Marine Division light a Small Unit Expeditionary stove at their campsite during the NATO Cold Weather Instructor Course (NCWIC) in Setermoen, Norway on November 24, 2022.
Here at 4GWAR Blog we were struck by this photo, which reminds us of the 17th Century Italian painter Caravaggio, one of the early masters of chiaroscuro, the art of using light and dark to create the illusion of three-dimensional volume on a flat surface. The term translates to “light-dark” — chiaro meaning bright or clear and scuro meaning dark or obscure, in Italian.
NCWIC is designed to develop Marines and other service members to be instructors of cold weather survival training in preparation for future deployments in the harsh environment of the High North regions. NATO is increasing its attention to the region, in response to the Russian war with Ukraine, Moscow’s military buildup in the Arctic and China’s expanding reach, declaring itself a “near Arctic state” and planning a “Polar Silk Road” linking China to Europe via the Arctic, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
SHAKO: Happy Birthday U.S. National Guard!
From a Colonial Militia Unit …
The First Muster by Don Troiani (Courtesy U.S. National Guard). Click on photo to enlarge image.
On Tuesday, December 13, 2022, the U.S. National Guard celebrates its 386th birthday. Yes, that’s right. The National Guard is older the Army or the Navy — older even than the United States of America.
How is that even possible? Well, according to the Guard, the selection of December 13, 1636 is based upon the Defense Department practice of adopting the dates of initial authorizing legislation for organized units as their birthdates. For a more detailed explanation from a previous National Guard press release, click here.
So, on December 13, 1636, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered the organization of the colony’s militia companies into three regiments: the North, South and East Regiments. The colonists had adopted the English militia system which obligated all males, between the ages of 16 and 60, to possess arms and participate in the defense of the community.
The early colonial militia drilled once a week and provided guard details each evening to sound the alarm in case of attack. Growing friction with Native Americans boiled over into brutal warfare in the 1630s, requiring the Massachusetts militia to be in a high state of readiness. The organization of the North, South and East Regiments increased efficiency and responsiveness. Although the exact date is not known, the first muster of the East Regiment took place in Salem, Massachusetts.
Later in the 17th and 18th centuries militias from Massachusetts and most of the other 13 colonies battled the French and their Indian allies in a series of conflicts known as the French and Indian wars. By 1775 they were fighting British redcoats in the war for independence.
In Katrina’s Wake By Gil Cohen. (Courtesy National Guard). Click on photo to enlarge image.
HOMELAND SECURITY: Arizona’s Shipping Container Border Wall; Officials Concerned By Attacks of Power Stations in Four States
BORDER BARRIER BATTLE.
Shipping containers are put in place along the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County.
Arizona’s Republican governor, whose term ends in a few weeks, has continued to order cargo shipping containers, stacked along a remote part of the state’s border with Mexico as a deterrent to undocumented migrants.
Governor Doug Ducey ordered the double-stacked shipping containers topped by razor wire unloaded in late summer near Yuma in western Arizona — a popular crossing point for migrants and asylum seekers entering the country illegally. He has continued the project over the objections of the U.S. government, environmentalists and the incoming incoming governor who has called it a poor use of resources, the Associated Press reported December 11. The latest container pile up is in Arizona’s remote San Rafael Valley, in Cochise County, which is not typically used by migrants, according to the AP.
Democratic Governor-elect Katie Hobbs said she was “looking at all the options” and hasn’t decided what to do about the containers after her inauguration on January 5, 2023. “I don’t know how much it will cost to remove the containers and what the cost will be,” Hobbs told Phoenix PBS TV station KAET in an interview December 7.
Ducey’s action comes as record number of migrants have been crossing the border. U.S. border officials have stopped migrants 2.38 million times in the fiscal year that ended September 30,. That’s up 37 percent from the year before. The annual total surpassed two million for the first time in August and is more than twice the highest level during the Trump administration.
Federal agencies have told Arizona officials the construction on U.S. land is unlawful and ordered it to halt. In response, Ducey sued federal officials October 21, sending the dispute to court. While the Justice Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss Ducey’s lawsuit, the Biden administration has taken no steps on the ground to stop the governor’s project, according to The Intercept website.
Meanwhile, the sheriff in another Arizona county, bordering Cochise County on the West, says Federal agents should begin seizing vehicles associated with the project. With federal authorities doing nothing yet, Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway has vowed to arrest the governor’s contractors if they cross the county line into his turf.
But the contract for the latest container wall has it stopping just shy of Hathaway’s jurisdiction. However, convoys of contractors have been racing through communities in Santa Cruz County for weeks now, hauling 40-foot shipping containers behind multi-ton pickup trucks at dangerous speeds, according to The Intercept. Hathaway said residents in the town of Elgin have complained about Ducey’s drivers “barreling through town,” ignoring stop signs, and “flying past children.”
The U.S. Forest Service says the shipping containers are a safety hazard and the federal government issued a statement warning people to stay away from the Copper Canyon area in the Sierra Vista District of the Coronado National Forest for safety reasons, according to Arizona Public Media.
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VANDALISM OR TERRORISM? UPDATED with new information, photo
All electric power has been restored in central North Carolina, where gunfire December 3 led to massive power outages lasting for four days.
Authorities are now concerned about the vulnerability of the nation’s electric grid with news of other attacks on six substations in Oregon and Washington earlier in the Fall. Another sub station in South Carolina was attacked just days after the North Carolina incident.
Grid security experts said it’s too early to tell whether the incidents were related or unusual in number, but said they showcase a need for the energy industry to be vigilant and prepared.
“It remains troubling and highlights how vulnerable is our critical infrastructure,” Richard Mroz, a senior adviser at the grid security advocacy group Protect Our Power, told the E&E News Energy Wire said in an email about the string of incidents.
Duke Energy Corporation electric substation at Carthage, North Carolina was one of two in the state damaged by gunfire. (Photo via FBI website)
No arrests have been announced and no suspect or suspects have been identified in the shooting at two Duke Energy substations around five miles apart on December 3. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper called the shootings about 50 miles southwest of Raleigh, a “criminal attack.” Cooper announced the state, Moore County and Duke Energy were offering a combined $75,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the attack, The Associated Press reported.
When power started going out in Moore County shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday, December 3, investigators found the equipment had been struck by gunfire. The person or people responsible drove to the substations, breached a gate in one case, and opened fire, NBC News reported. The FBI is among the law enforcement agencies assisting in the investigation.
Not the First Attack, nor the Last
In late November, two electric substations near the Portland, Oregon suburb of Clackamas were targeted in what utility officials described as deliberate attacks. The substations are operated separately by the Bonneville Power Administration and Portland General Electric, and it’s unclear if they were attacked on the same day or if the events were connected. At least four substations in Washington state have also been vandalized or targeted, EnergyWire reported.
Several days after the North Carolina shootings, Duke Energy Corporation reported gunfire near its Wateree Hydro station in Ridgeway, South Carolina. The December 7 incident at the South Carolina hydroelectric plant did not cause any reported outages or known property damage, the company said.
Investigators are zeroing in on two threads of possible motives centered on extremist behavior for the North Carolina attacks, CNN reported, citing law-enforcement sources briefed on the investigation. One thread involves the writings by extremists on online forums encouraging attacks on critical infrastructure. The second thread looks at a series of recent disruptions of LGBTQ+ events across the nation by domestic extremists, CNN said.
Investigators have no evidence connecting the North Carolina attacks to a drag event at a theater in the same county, but the timing of two events are being considered in context with the growing tensions and armed confrontations around similar LBGTQ+ events across the country, the sources told CNN.
Attacks on the United States’ power grid have been the subject of extremist chatter for some time, notably ticking up in 2020, the same year a 14-page how-to on low tech attacks, including assaulting power grids with guns, circulated among extremist communication channels, according to CNN and other news outlets.
A Department of Homeland Security bulletin — reported by CNN just days before the North Carolina attack — indicated there was a heightened threat posed by domestic violent extremists in the United States against critical infrastructure and other targets. In the past two years, anti-government groups began using online forums to urge followers to attack critical infrastructure, including the power grid. They have posted documents and even instructions outlining vulnerabilities and suggesting the use of high-powered rifles, CNN reported. Nearly two dozen shell casings from a high-powered rifle were reported found at the scene in North Carolina.
FRIDAY FOTO (December 9, 2022)
WINTER STILL LIFE WITH SOLDIERS.
(Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Seth LaCount, 134th Public Affairs Detachment) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.
Alaska Army National Guardsmen — assigned to the appropriately named Avalanche Company — patrol at sunset on December 3, 2022 during an Air Assault training exercise at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The exercise, part of the drill weekend for these members of the 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, sought to enhance the unit’s combat readiness while evaluating their proficiency in an arctic environment.
We note only a couple of the soldiers are wearing winter white garb.
SHAKO (December 5, 2022)
THEY KEPT ‘EM FLYING DURING FRAUGHT EVACUATION
Fifty-one members of the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, for their actions in Operation Allies Refuge — the 2021 airlift of thousands of civilians from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Distinguished Flying Crosses are lined up prior to an award ceremony at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, where 51 Airmen received medals for heroism during the 17-day evacuation of tens of thousands of refugees from Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sergeant Alex Fox Echols III) Click on photo to enlarge image.
The November 21, 2022 ceremony was the largest of its kind in decades. Among the honorees, Captain Rhea McFarland, a 14th Airlift Squadron C-17 cargo plane pilot, and Captain Leslie Green, a 375th Air Expeditionary Squadron flight nurse, became the first female African Americans to be awarded the DFC in the 96-year history of the award, according to officials of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society.
During Operation Allies Refuge — the largest non-combatant evacuation in American history — each of the 51 Airmen flew into a dangerous environment to evacuate tens of thousands of refugees in just 17 days.
The DFC recipients included pilots, loadmasters, flying crew chiefs, and a flight nurse, according to the Air Force. Most of the 51 recipients were aircrew from the 437th Airlift Wing, who participated in the final U.S. flights in and out of Afghanistan on August 30, 2021. As they entered the airspace surrounding Hamid Karzai International Airport, air crews faced air defense artillery, flares, and heavy machine gun fire, as well as reports of rooftop snipers in the area.
Despite the dangerous conditions, crews successfully landed their aircraft without runway lighting and minimized time on the ground while loading passengers. A compromised airfield meant a risky departure, but they took off in formation with all remaining U.S. military forces accounted for and safely on board, the Air Force said.
Distinguished Flying Cross recipients pose for a photo in front of a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft after receiving their medals. With a total of 51 recipients, the Nov. DFC ceremony was the largest of its kind in decades. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sergeant Alex Fox Echols III). Click on the photo to enlarge image.
During the ceremony, General Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, also presented DFCs to a 315th Air Wing crew for successfully delivering a baby while in flight. With limited medical equipment and only one trained medic on board, the team delivered the baby and cared for the mother and child while also evacuating 456 other vulnerable Afghans.
The DFC, authorized by congress on July 2, 1926, is the fourth highest award for extraordinary achievement, after the Silver Star Medal and before the Bronze Star Medal. It is also the highest award for heroism while participating in aerial flight.
A list of the 51 airmen receiving the DFC at the November 21 ceremony Joint Base Charleston can be found here.
The awards presented by Minihan are among 96 DFCs and 12 Bronze Stars approved in a September awards board held by U.S. Air Forces Central Command for actions during the chaotic evacuation of non-combatants as Kabul fell to the Taliban last summer. Thirteen American service members — 11 Marines, one Navy ((medical) Corpsman and one Soldier — were killed by a suicide bomber at the airport’s Abbey Gate. Forty-five others were injured and 170 Afghans died in the blast as well.
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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress, or parade, uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York in the photo.
FRIDAY FOTO (December 2, 2022)
TASK FORCE RED CLOUD.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Jackson Kirkiewicz) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.
U.S. Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 6 (CLB-6), a unit of Combat Logistics Regiment 2 in the 2nd Marine Logistics Group, drive a Finnish G-Class landing craft while operating the Amy, an unmanned surface vehicle on the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Finland November 25, 2022.
CLB-6 trains organizes and deploys to provide logistical combat support to Regimental Combat Teams (RCT) in the field with supplies beyond their organic capabilities, so there’s no interruption to operations.
CLB-6 also supplies headquarters elements for Task Force Red Cloud, which is deployed to Finland in support of exercises like Freezing Winds 2022, which ran from November 22 to December 2. The exercise, in the Gulf of Finland and the constricted maritime terrain of the Finnish archipelago involved a total of 23 combat vessels, service and support vessels, transport vessels, as well as coastal and land troops, totaling about 5,000 personnel. The annual maritime defense exercise provided a unique opportunity to rehearse demanding combat tasks in the harsh November weather conditions of the Baltic Sea, according to Finland’s Chief of Staff of the Navy Command, Commodore Jukka Anteroinen.
The United States and NATO have stepped up military, air and naval exercises in the Baltic region with Sweden and Finland — which have both applied to join NATO — since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, leading to much destruction and loss of life.
4GWAR 