opswarfare

Thursday, 11 June 2015

new kid on the block: The Ethical War Blog

New blog by the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace
http://stockholmcentre.org/category/ethical-war-blog/

h/t: Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict
http://www.elac.ox.ac.uk/

Tuesday, 2 June 2015

US Deployments in the the Western Pacific

via IISS: US Deployments in the the Western Pacific [click on image to enlarge]

From their Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment 2015 strategic dossier

Thursday, 28 May 2015

F-35B trials on USS Wasp

Take-off & landing videos on the USS Wasp

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153255105117200&id=16067432199
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153255148057200&id=16067432199

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Stanford 'International Security in a Changing World' course goes online

http://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/news/popular-international-security-course-goes-online-global-audience

“But unlike our Stanford students – you won’t have to take a final exam.”

New free online course, woohoo!

"Homework" for this weekend. Or maybe even from this evening onwards.

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Battle for Singapore - NHB heritage tours - Sime Road - The Hellfire Tour

This was Hellfire corner

Attended 4 of the tours organised by the National Heritage Board (NHB).

https://www.nhb.gov.sg/NHBPortal/What'sOn/BattleforSingapore

Struggled to find time to write proper full blog posts about each tour, so will highlight good blog posts by others, then add comments and photos below.

Sime Road - The Hellfire Tour

Synopsis

Stretching from Sime Road to Bukit Brown cemetery, the Hellfire Tour takes you to the scene of General Yamashita’s strategy for the Japanese Imperial Army to crush the defending British forces in the Battle for Singapore. The site also marks the former combined Operational Headquarters of the British Army and Royal Air Force during World War II and later became the internment camp for Allied Forces POWs after the fall of Singapore. Take a walk with Jon Cooper as he relates the stories of the soldiers who fought amongst the gravestones and the civilian internees who spent their years of captivity in the Sime Road camp.

Guide:

Jonathan Cooper

Project Manager, Researcher and Battlefield Archaeologist at The Changi Museum

Postgraduate student, Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, Glasgow University

Read this blog post for a good account of this tour

http://singapore-trails.blogspot.sg/2015/02/battle-for-singapore-heritage-tour-sime.html

Additional points

Jon is a great guide, painting a vivid picture of the landscape, and engaging the attendees. It wasn't a "spoon-feeding" session; as we walked down Sime Road, he started asking "what is old?", to encourage us to see and evaluate our surroundings. Some items were pre-war, some were post-war.

Jon is the one wearing the jungle hat

There was a short discussion on the Syonan Jinja, at the 2 NHB commemorative boards at the "Hellfire" junction. Several of us were keen to know exactly how to reach the location. Google around and you will find a few blog posts on this.

We were told about a civilian internee, who as a young girl, stayed at the Green House [the building with the rotunda]; she later revisited Singapore a few years ago.

Maps from the WW2 period were distributed to help us orientate ourselves and also discuss on features; Jon highlighted markings on the map, indicating tunnel entrances dug by the Japanese forces; the link was quickly made to the intricate tunnel network at Iwo Jima; Jon also highlighted that the tunnel network was not completed.

I asked if the British also had underground facilities for its Combined Operations Headquarters. Jon said yes, but their locations were unknown [would be great to find these facilities].

We also walked to the boundary between the SICC golf course and the MacRitchie Reservoir [a.k.a. where the 4.8km cross country route turns from the forest onto the road]; there we were shown some depressions, which may have been slit trenches dug by the Suffolk regiment, and also the possible final resting place of one of the KIA soldiers. [some British POWs (David Nelson and the Bureau of Record and Enquiry) kept a detailed record of soldiers killed, and their burial locations, so that their remains could be recovered after the war]

Just before we did a little "bashing" to see the supposed slit trenches

We ended the heritage tour near the entrance of Bukit Brown, looking at Hill 130, and "reliving" perhaps the one & only tank on tank engagement during the campaign.

Jon concluded by showing us the artifacts found at the Adam Park Project, and asking us to consider participating in preserving our heritage.

Will post on the other 3 heritage tours soon.

Friday, 20 February 2015

Continuity and Change: The Nature of Future Armed Conflict

http://youtu.be/kZ5cDdposJc

IISS-US Policy Makers Series
Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster
Director, Army Capabilities Integration Center and Deputy Commanding General, Futures, US Army Training and Doctrine Command
Chair: Dr. Eliot A. Cohen
Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies, Johns Hopkins SAIS
Council Member, International Institute for Strategic Studies
IISS-US, Washington DC
Thursday February 19 2015, 10:30am-12pm EDT/3:30-5pm GMT

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Watched the live stream yesterday. Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster spoke well, taking on questions with aplomb.

Took down notes while the session was ongoing; hope to distill the talking points in a future post.

Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Think strategic, fight tactical

http://kingsofwar.org.uk/2015/02/televised-salvation/

A quick response to the 3 questions asked in the link above.

What are the terms of a strategic narrative to defeat the extremist movements who trade in barbarity?
Do we need to reconsider how we use military forces? Is force their most effective capability?
Are American and Western political audiences willing to sacrifice life and treasure to defend others?

First posted on Twitter.

re: Televised Salvation; [1] don't forget the tactical; we can also use these broadcasts to trace useful intel on ISIS #CCLKOW
re: Televised Salvation; [2] we should be mindful that many soldiers "didn't sign up" to conduct these "soothe & cuddle operations" #CCLKOW
re: Televised Salvation; [3] as long as there are soldiers willing to sacrifice life and treasure to defend others, that is enough #CCLKOW

Friday, 7 November 2014

Check & balance

Cameron to check arms export licences to Russia
The Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls report shows the importance of having checks and balances.

The military nuts forum has a thread which crowdsources the appearance of singapore-made weapons in interesting locations.
http://militarynuts.com/index.php?showtopic=424

Not ideal, but the situation is not likely to improve, until Singaporeans understand the impact of selling weapons to countries which may misuse them.

Some info on the arms trade below.
http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/ArmsTrade/

Wednesday, 30 July 2014

3 PARA Airborne in Africa

Just spotted a new documentary series, showing the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, training in Kenya.
http://forces.tv/topic/3-para-airborne-africa-0

Episode 1 below
http://forces.tv/87495148