Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke
Easy listening radio
July 30, 2011

Cooke had 29 top-40 hits in the U.S. between 1957 and 1964.



He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music.
He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his vocal abilities and influence on the modern world of music.


Samuel Cook {wiki}
January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964


Playlist;

  • A Change Is Gonna Come
  • Another Saturday Night
  • Tennessee Waltz
  • What a Wonderful World It Would Be
  • Good Times
  • That's Where It's At
  • Talling in Love
  • Basin Street Blues
  • Tennessee Waltz
  • You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You
  • When a Boy Falls in Love
  • Shake
  • The Best Things in Life are Free
  • (Somebody) Ease My Troublin' Mind
  • He's My Guide
  • Keep Movin' On
  • Rome (Wasn't Built In A Day)
  • Try A Little Love
  • Fool's Paradise
  • Good News
  • I'm Just a Country Boy
  • When I Fall in Love
  • Meet Me at Mary's Place
  • This Little Light of Mine
  • That's It, I Quit, I'm Movin' On
  • The Riddle Song
  • Please Don't Drive Me Away
  • Touch The Hem Of His Garment
  • Pilgrim of Sorrow
  • Bill Bailey
  • Frankie & Johnny
  • Happy in Love
  • Yeah Man
  • Another Saturday Night
  • Cousin of Mine
  • It's Got the Whole World Shaking
  • There'll Be No Second Time
  • Ol' Man River
  • Opening Introduction
  • A Change is Gonna Come
  • Moonlight in Vermont
  • Send Me Some Lovin'
  • Sittin' in the Sun
  • Another Saturday Night
  • (Ain't That) Good News
  • Good Times
  • Shake
  • Rome (Wasn't Built in a Day)
  • Meet Me at Mary's Place
  • Another Saturday Night


    Source;

    http://bit.ly/n8U7mR


    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.


    The Greatest Story Ever Told, "Jesus of Nazareth 1974"

    starring Robert Powell

  • Monday, July 25, 2011

    Actor Gary Sinise

    Actor Gary Sinise
    July 4th. 2011

    Known for his role in the hit movie Forest Gump actor Gary Sinise entertains the troops with his Lt. Dan Band.

    Look for them on youtube.com.

    In these photos Lt. Dan gets a tour of the C-17 Globemaster III which ironicaly carried me out of Iraq on my 46th. birthday June 8, 2006.


    Click on the photos in order to view a larger image.

    more...


    Momma always said lifes like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're going to get. - Forest Gump


    Source;

    http://bit.ly/oeeSfG


    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.


    The Greatest Story Ever Told, "Jesus of Nazareth 1974"

    starring Robert Powell

    20th. International Air Mobility RODEO

    20th. International Air Mobility RODEO
    July 25, 2011

    The best of the best will be in town today with their cargo aircraft from 35 allied nations.

    It's sure to get a little noisy in the skies over Tacoma this week.

    Registration is open. Add your name to the growing list already planning to attend this prestigious event.

    For more information contact: Download the flyer here or at this site.

    Aubrey Robertson
    International Team Coordinator
    aubrey.robertson@us.af.mil
    Ph 253.982.6993 Fax 253.982.9317


    Building Partnerships for Global Reach


    090720-F-0212J-057.JPG


    446th AW welcomes Rodeo guests

    Col. R. Wyn Elder/62nd Airlift Wing commander
    Published: 02:46PM July 14th, 2011



    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.

    Timely Treasures photo

    Timely Treasures
    http://bit.ly/p6rE6q




    When I took this photo I didn't really pay any attention to the children but after the photo was snapped I got a haunting stare from their father.

    It's just one of those things and it turned out that I was very lucky for getting such a great shot.

    Oh, it was taken in Colmar, France.

    Would you like to order a print from this photo? If so, you may do so by posting a message in the comment section or by phone 253.987.6261.


    Good Day,

    Philip


    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.

    Sunday, July 24, 2011

    Amy Winehouse radio

    Amy Winehouse 27
    Rest in peace
    7.23.2011


    Amy Winehouse Radio





    downloads
    Amy's radio | mp3's | wallpaper | more

  • Valerie
  • Me & Mr Jones
  • Love Is a Losing Game
  • Fuck Me Pumps
  • Back to Black
  • In My Bed
  • Just Friends
  • You Know I'm No Good {Remix}
  • Stronger Than Me
  • Wake Up Alone
  • Addicted
  • He Can Only Hold Her
  • Help Yourself
  • I Heard Love Is Blind
  • Rehab
  • Back To Black {The Rumble Strips remix}
  • Some Unholy War
  • You Sent Me Flying
  • October Song
  • Amy Amy Amy
  • Some Unholy War
  • Know You Now
  • (There Is) No Greater Love
  • You Know I'm No Good
  • Stronger Than Me
  • Cupid
  • To Know His Is to Love Him
  • Cherry
  • Me & Mr Jones
  • Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
  • Mr Magic (Through The Smoke)
  • Take the Box
  • Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
  • Hey Little Rich Girl
  • Close To The Front
  • Monkey Man
  • Brother
  • Moody's Mood for Love
  • Love Is a Losing Game (original demo)
  • You Sent Me Flying / Cherry
  • Rehab (Album Version)
  • You Sent Me Flying
  • Round Midnight
  • What It Is About Men
  • You're Wondering Now
  • Rehab (Hot Chip remix)
  • Tears Dry On Their Own (Clean Version)
  • What Is It About Men
  • Amy Amy Amy / Outro
  • Monkey Man

    I love you Amy...!




    Source;

    http://t.co/tHoSV6x


    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.
  • Saturday, July 23, 2011

    The Man Who Saw Tomorrow Part 8

    Nostradamus - The Man Who Saw Tomorrow Part 8



    Sunday, July 17, 2011
    Israel-Iran War in September?


    Source;

    http://bit.ly/qLAFyH


    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.

    Sunday, July 17, 2011

    Stryker Program Celebrates 10th. Anniversity

    Stryker Program Celebrates 10th. Anniversity
    July 13, 2011

    Shinseki in Stryker
    By U.S. Army Garrison-Detroit Arsenal Media Services


    Photo Credit: U.S. Army Garrison-Detroit Arsenal Media Services
    Retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki sits inside a Stryker vehicle and talks with Col. Robert Schumitz, Stryker project manager, about how the vehicle was first fielded 10 years ago as the Interim Armored Vehicle



    The first thing that I noticed about the Stryker program manager Col Schumitz, was the fact that we both held a cup of Starbucks coffee in our hands on entering the celebration of the 10th. anniversary of the US Army Stryker Program at the Stryker National Logicial Center located in Auburn, Washington. My Starbucks coffee was the Pike Place roast.

    Col Schumitz paced about a lot being a senior army officer and the fact that our nation has been at war for a decade.

    The tempo here is fierce, nerves are tense and the workers were tired.

    The speech mostly detailed the fact that the US Army was nearing the mark of reaching the goal of it's 9th Stryker Brigade and that of 4,000 vehicles. The simple fact that the Stryker Brigades have driven nearly 40 million miles since their initial deployments. The fact that 26 million of those miles were in combat while the vehicle was designed to achieve a mere 1,200 miles per year. The simple fact that the vehicle was designed to carry between 38 to 42 tons it commonly carried between 42 to 46 tons.

    Truly a success story from any angle it is viewed. If you don't believe this then simply ask any soldier that you might encounter.

    Col Schumitz speech never mentioned the fact that his term as the program manager was nearing the end and his replacement would be a DOD cilivian who was in attendance.

    The fact that the people who he had met along his travels, being mostly of those at his time in several local happy hour events. He would meet a bartender or waitress who would see the Stryker logo or an elblem and simply recount a story that the Stryker vehicle had brought their husband, brother or loved one back home.

    During his speech he stopped several times to recount an emotional story of a Stryker program success.

    The greatest of which being the story of the newest version of the US Army's Double V Hull Stryker. In a recent large improved explosive device, commonly know as IED, explosion attacked in full force one of the newest Double V Hull's in Afghanistan and resulted in no casulalties, loss of limbs and no significient injuries.

    Col Schumitz speech was so emotional during most of his speech that one could simply hear a pin drop and at the end of his speech we gave him nearly a five minute standing ovation.

    I couldn't resist but to shake his hand and relate a few of my own stories in which I shared that I had implaced the uparmour, commonly known as slat armour, on the first two Stryker Brigades at Ft. Lewis, Washington. Then upon his visit to Balad, Iraq in 2006 our site manager Raymond James rewarded me with one of Col Schumitz's coins.

    Also that I was one of only eleven pickers at our entire facility in which we ship parts for the Stryker program throughout the entire world.

    Last but not least I mentioned that when our work day was finished I would simply spend my social time at the King Oscar's Motel where I had been a regular for the past 24 years. Not counting the fact that during that time I had lived overseas for 11 of those years.

    I told Col Schumitz that the Reserved Officer Training Corp, or more commonly known of the ROTC cadre, were in town and that they liked to talk about their time in combat in which the Stryker vehicle had saved their lives.

    I've yet to hear of one soldier bad mouthing the Stryker vehicle.


    Related Story;
    Stryker vehicles can protect troops better


    Source;

    http://www.army.mil/article/56202/Armymarks10yearStrykeranniversary/


    ###

    end


    Philip Atkins is a freelance writer and former soldier who resides in Tacoma, Washington with his wife Diana.



    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.

    DAILY NEWS SUMMARY – 12 July 2011

    DAILY NEWS SUMMARY – 12 July 2011
    Defense Journal


    Defense Contractor Partnerships Could Spur Innovation - With Army and Marine Corps officials seeking commercial technology to spin into vehicle programs, a top defense contractor is seizing the opportunity.
    One major combat vehicle manufacturer, General Dynamics Land Systems, has opened a new 15,000-square foot facility in Michigan intended to foster the rapid development of innovative technology for military customers.
    The “maneuver collaboration center” houses several labs where potential partners can test and evaluate their solutions in models and simulations to see how well the components might integrate onto existing or concept vehicles. Once the technology is ready for prime time, it is presented to military officials.
    “There’s no obligation on anyone’s part,” said Joanne Cavanaugh, the center’s director. “This is far left of any [request for proposal]. But it’s an opportunity to illustrate to the defense leadership that we’re serious about trying to find the technology that will eliminate their need to do a lot of design and development effort.”
    To ensure that the technology pursuits will satisfy actual requirements, the MC2, pronounced M-C squared, works with Army and Marine Corps officials and current military vehicle users to identify technology gaps. The center lists those needs on a website and member organizations that wish to pitch their solutions simply send in their proposals. The center so far has attracted more than 2,400 members, including more than 920 suppliers. Participants range from small businesses and General Dynamics sister organizations to other large prime contractors.
    Once a proposal has been submitted, an MC2 team reviews it within 48 hours. If the idea does not pass muster, the submitting party is notified. But if it has potential, officials invite the proposer to begin collaborating. Within seven days, an initial meeting between the supplier and MC2 engineers takes place to add more technical depth to the solution.
    “I’m really not interested in doing a lot of science projects here,” said Cavanaugh. “I really want to do things that have value.”
    After that first meeting, the supplier within 30 days will commence working on the project and modeling and integrating the technology in the various laboratories. The facilities include a war fighter integration lab, where pitched concepts are virtually incorporated into a vehicle and then tested for interference, space constraints and other measurements; a battle lab, where engineers can model complete systems in complex fighting scenarios that illustrate the costs associated with sustaining and operating the vehicle; and a vehicle center where live systems are brought into bays for hardwire integration of components. Suppliers also will have opportunities to meet with troops and other military customers.
    “We have some great collaboration there before it even gets anywhere close to a purchase order,” said Cavanaugh. “It allows us to give the suppliers that voice, that interaction with the military so they hear directly from them on what kinds of things they can do better.”
    After a month or two of that collaboration, General Dynamics officials will present the solution to military customers for approval or redirection.
    Cavanaugh said so far they have presented about a dozen innovations that have been accepted by military customers who will finance them and incorporate them onto their vehicles.
    “The average process for those was 54 days,” she said. “That’s pretty quick. It’s finding technologies already out there — proven, tested, fielded — that can be used on military weapons.”
    The same procedure via the traditional acquisition cycle usually takes anywhere from six months to two years.
    Most of the accepted solutions resided in the area of soldier survivability — safety innovations that would enhance troops’ comfort inside vehicle cabins when they are strapped down for roadside bomb blasts. The technologies will be incorporated into retrofit kits that will be applied to the vehicles during a reset or upgrade opportunity.
    Four more solutions have been approved since early summer, and military officials were reviewing about a half dozen more for inclusion into other programs, Cavanaugh told National Defense.
    Officials by June had placed 94 “needs” statements up on the MC2 website. The center has received some 757 proposals across eight broad categories: mobility, power and energy; survivability; lethality; operations and sustainment; process technologies; systems integration and architecture; automation and autonomous systems; and subsystem development.
    What makes the process especially gratifying for Cavanaugh is that the center is gaining exposure to non-traditional suppliers, the small businesses that ordinarily would not have an entrée to working with the Defense Department. Some of those are in the automotive and racing industries. The MC2 process provides opportunities for both current defense suppliers and new businesses to present products for evaluation.
    “It’s respectful of our existing supply base, but it is acknowledging there is opportunity for growth in areas that don’t impede on what our current supply base does,” said Cavanaugh.
    Small businesses struggle with breaking into the defense arena because they don’t know what the military needs and they become lost in the acquisition shuffle. Those firms can meet with large defense contractors multiple times and with different parties who express interest in their offerings, but nobody is there to pull it all together. The MC2 is filling that gap, participants said.
    “As a small business, you want to know, ‘is there interest?’ If there is interest, what are the next steps? You’re looking for closure, whether it’s good or bad. A process like this shows you the next steps and where it’s headed,” said Jim McManus, new business development manager for Century Inc., a Traverse City, Mich.-based firm with specialties in precision machining, metal heat-treating and metal matrix composites. The firm registered to become a member of the collaboration center and submitted proposals featuring technology to lighten the weight of military vehicles by 1,000 pounds.
    “They all deal with saving a significant amount of weight on vehicles and they improve the performance on drive train components,” he said.
    One of the solutions employs a process to look at vehicle components made out of heavy-cast iron or steel. It determines what sections or parts could be replaced by metal matrix composite material that will preserve the properties and characteristics of the original metal.
    So far, prospects are looking up for the company’s proposals, McManus said. “They submitted innovative solutions that have some great traction from a weight savings perspective on any platform, not just specific to Stryker,” said Cavanaugh. “We are looking at it for Stryker, and the Marine Corps Light Armored Vehicle and for some international customers. … Anything we can do to drive weight out makes the vehicles more efficient and provides opportunities not only for fuel savings but also for increased capacity.”
    Small businesses are sometimes discouraged by the traditional defense acquisition process because they may spend a lot of time and resources only to discover that they are off the mark, or that they have a promising innovation that requires more development than Defense Department officials are willing to fund. Innovations are not simply spurned and forgotten at the MC2. It will bank ideas and solutions that have potential but do not have a proper outlet yet with military customers.
    “Maybe your idea isn’t developed yet, or the timing is off. I wouldn’t lose hope,” said McManus. “They have a way to archive ideas.”
    Having that complete visibility of available technologies is beneficial to all involved, Cavanaugh said.
    “We respect what anybody brings to us. If it’s of a technology level that we can do something with, great. If not, we’re perfectly willing to help them find assistance in other areas,” she said. The MC2, for example, can direct promising nascent technologies six miles north to the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, or into the “incubator” program in the greater Detroit region. The incubators comprise state government and other organizations that help small businesses develop their technology.
    The eight thrust areas for the time being will remain stable, but Cavanaugh said her employees are pulsing customers for additional ideas.
    “As we solve problems, we want to find more and put them up there,” on the website, she said. A recent meeting with Stryker program officials refined 20 additional “needs” statements that the MC2 was planning to add to its online list.
    Though the current focus is to find technologies that will improve existing vehicles and speed them to their customers, in the future, the MC2 will seek collaborations for new programs, such as the Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and the Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle and Marine Personnel Carrier.
    “All those are certainly avenues ripe for finding ways for future collaboration,” said Cavanaugh.
    The Defense Department’s acquisition reform initiative promotes the concept of the 80 percent solution, that is, a weapon system that fulfills troops’ needs but at the cost of technological trade-offs that can be ameliorated down the road.
    “We understand that the dynamics have shifted,” said Cavanaugh. “The willingness of the primes and willingness of the members we have in MC2, both the large companies and small companies, to engage in this level of in-depth analysis and integration before it gets to the military is an indication that we know things have changed and that we’re doing what we can to support the soldiers.”
    Attaining the 80 percent solution will keep soldiers and marines equipped with the best technology that’s out there, she said. “I think things like MC2 are going to be the discriminator that gets them to the 100 percent [solution].”
    The success of two previous projects for the Stryker combat vehicle illustrated the need for a concept like the MC2, said Cavanaugh.
    One project was incorporating a double V-hull onto the bottom of the eight-wheeled personnel carrier to harden it against roadside bomb blasts in Afghanistan. The idea came about in December 2009 after explosions exposed the vehicle’s vulnerability. General Dynamics has since produced 150 double V-hull Strykers that are currently being fielded. A total of 450 are on order for the Army.
    “The fact that we could take something as large as a 20-ton vehicle and do a significant redesign engineering effort and get it into production, through tests and into the field in 18 months really illustrates for us the willingness of the Army to engage with us on programs where we do a lot of the legwork in finding mature technologies and then speed them to the Army,” said Cavanaugh. She added that the project would have taken as long as three or four years had it gone through the traditional design and development process.
    Following the swifter model, General Dynamics also developed a Stryker medical treatment vehicle capable of taking a physician forward onto the battlefield to stabilize critically wounded soldiers in a mobile surgical room. Program officials intend to field the vehicle by next summer.
    “I suspect that if we hadn’t done it through this forum, I would say that we would have still been five years away from fielding,” said Cavanaugh. (Source: National Defense)


    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.

    America- "Sandman" w/ Extended Intro (HD) live at Mohegan

    America- "Sandman" w/ Extended Intro (HD) live at Mohegan Sun on 5-29-2010

    Creepy song... just a coincidence?

    Recorded at America's performance at the Mohegan Sun resort in Uncasville, Connecticut on May 29th, 2010. From the boxed-set liner notes:
    Sandman," another Bunnell composition, is an unsettling number that features an effects-laden electric guitar line for color. Dewey based the lyric, in part, on conversations he'd had at West Ruislip with airmen returning from Vietnam: "They'd buy us a beer at the commissary and tell us stories about the war. We weren't very political or very military. But 'Sandman' came out of our eyes being opened to the fact that these guys weren't much older than us. One of the things that I vividly remember hearing one guy say is that he hardly ever slept in Vietnam--he was afraid to go to sleep. So there's the line, 'You've been running from the man who goes by the name of the Sandman'--you don't want to go to sleep because you might be killed. I thought, What a lousy way to live."



    more...


    A coincidence is an event notable for its occurring in conjunction with other conditions, e.g. another event. As such, a coincidence occurs when something uncanny, accidental and unexpected happens under conditions named, but not under a defined relationship. When there are no conditions named, the event is just that single entity. The word is derived from the Latin cum- ("with", "together") and incidere (a composed verb from "in" and "cadere": "to fall on", "to happen"). In science, the term is generally used in a more literal translation, e.g., referring to when two rays of light strike a surface at the same point at the same time. In this usage of coincidence, there is no implication that the alignment of events is surprising, noteworthy or non-causal.

    A coincidence does not prove a causal or any other modal relationship nor require any such. In the field of mathematics, the index of coincidence can be used to analyze whether two events are related. Such index does not define any relationship, but just describes some possibility of such. Physically related events may be expected to have a higher probability to occur, probability is the basic metrics, or method, to rationally evaluate physical coincidences.

    From a statistical perspective, coincidences are inevitable and often less remarkable than they may appear intuitively. An example is the birthday problem, where the probability of two individuals sharing a birthday already exceeds 50% with a group of only 23. more... {wiki}



    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.

    DAILY NEWS SUMMARY – 11 July 2011

    DAILY NEWS SUMMARY – 11 July 2011


    Canada's military hardware sales soar - Most Canadian arms went to close NATO allies, but others found their way to human rights abusers.
    Canada was the 12th largest exporter of military hardware in the world in 2010, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
    This represents a significant spike in sales from 2008 and 2009, when Canada was the 15th largest international arms dealer.
    Most of these guns, bombs, aircraft and armored vehicles went to close NATO allies, but Canadian arms also found their way to human rights abusers - including Saudi Arabia, China, Libya and Tunisia.
    Between 2006 and 2009 Canada exported $1.4 billion worth of military gear, according to the Report on the Export of Military Goods from Canada for 2007-2009, published by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
    Canada exported military hardware to 70 countries between 2007 and 2009, and currently has arms embar-goes on Myanmar (Burma), Belarus and North Korea.
    Sales to NATO allies accounted for $737 million, or 52 per cent, of all reported sales from 2006 to 2009. Among the top NATO buyers were Britain, France, Germany and Norway.
    Such close non-NATO allies as Australia and New Zealand also made major purchases, as did South Korea.
    Airplanes, helicopters and aerospace components were the hottest items, with sales totaling more than $387 million in three years. Bell helicopters and Bombardier jets were big sellers, as were aircraft engines from Pratt & Whitney.
    Canada's high-tech defense sector has also boomed, with strong sales of sensors and guidance and fire control systems. Canada also sold aircraft-and ship-based radar systems to a range of countries, as well as imaging equipment and computer software.
    The Light Armored Vehicle III (LAV-III) has been used heavily by Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, and the vehicle - produced by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada - is selling quickly on the international market. Fleets were purchased by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia and New Zealand.
    Canada also exported nearly a quarter billion dollars worth of guns, bombs and ammunition from 2007 to 2009, to countries ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
    The $1.4-billion sales figure disclosed by the government does not include military sales to the United States. These figures are not disclosed, the report says, "due to close and long-standing military co-operation with the United States, including the integrated nature of North America's defense industry."
    Kenneth Epps is a longtime arms trade watcher with the Canadian security think-tank Project Ploughshares.
    He says the government's reporting on its arms exports is woefully incomplete, and estimates that three-quarters of all of Canada's military exports go to the United States.
    Ploughshares calculates that Canada exports between $1.5 to $2 billion worth of military goods to the United States each year, a figure that dwarfs military exports to all other countries.
    "Given that the U.S. market there surpasses all other markets combined, Canada is reporting less than half the true picture," he said.
    Epps said this unreported U.S. data also conceals weapons shipments that pass through the United States before being exported onward to countries like Pakistan. (Source: Ottawa Citizen)


    Navy Memo to Panetta: $2.3 Billion Needed For Marine End Strength Of 186,800 - The Marine Corps will need an extra $2.3 billion to restore its end strength to 186,800 Marines after the fiscal year 2012 defense budget request put the service on a path to only 182,000, according to a memorandum to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta obtained by InsideDefense.com.
    The Marines opted to slash active-duty end strength from 202,100 to 182,000 with "the understanding [the numbers] would be reviewed upon the completion of the Marine Corps' force structure review," states the June 14 memo. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus signed the document, which broadly lays out the "priorities, challenges and opportunities" for the Navy and the Marine Corps.
    Once the Marine Corps completed its force structure review, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved active-duty end strength of 186,800, or an increase of 4,800 above what was set in the proposed FY-12 budget.
    "The cost to restore the approved end strength and implement a more responsible drawdown rate is $2.3 billion," the memo states. "If this funding is not restored, the Marine Corps will be forced to make steep cuts in procurement and in manpower at a time we are still at war."
    The drawdown would take place in FY-15 and FY-16.
    Marine Corps leaders have refused to move off of the 186,800 figure despite budgetary pressures. Amos said at an event in May that even with the current push for savings at the Pentagon, the Marines believe the conclusions of the force structure review will hold up to scrutiny. Lt. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, commander of Marine Corps Forces Command, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic, Marine Corps Bases Atlantic and Marine Corps Forces Europe, told reporters in June that an 8 percent reduction in the force was about right and the Marines would not consider going lower.
    The memo outlines a list of other priorities and challenges facing both the Navy and the Marine Corps. It discusses the AirSea Battle initiative, noting that the service "may have to accept increased risk in 'general purpose force' areas" due to fiscal challenges. It also lays out the importance of recapitalizing the ballistic missile submarine fleet in the 2020s, the challenge of meeting demand -- which far exceeds capacity-- and the issue of a "fragile maritime industrial base and specialized research and development capacity," which needs protecting.
    For the Marine Corps, the memo notes that the service needs Panetta's support for the force structure review, and it asserts the importance of the troubled short-take-off, vertical-landing variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, as well as the amphibious combat vehicle program that will replace the canceled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. The Marines will also need to carefully balance reset and equipment modernization to "forgo the costs of replacing gear worn out through 10 years of sustained combat," the memo states. (Source: Inside Defense)


    DEFENSE WATCH - Reprogramming Rundown. The Pentagon’s $5 billion omnibus reprogramming request, dated June 30 and now before Congress, seeks to shift money for varied vehicle efforts including $51 million for 14 more M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation Systems (HERCULES). Other proposed shifts include $45 million for testing vehicle technology to help the Army Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) effort. The reprogramming seeks a correlating $45 million cut from GCV funding, dropping levels to $413 million for the nascent program for which the service plans to soon award technology development contracts. The 91-page reprogramming notably seeks to shift monies to replace munitions used during military action in Libya, including $310 million for buying Tomahawk missiles. (Source: Defense Daily)

    Weapons Spending Plans May No Longer Be Realistic, Hale Says

    Weapons Spending Plans May No Longer Be Realistic, Hale Says

    The growth in overall U.S. defense spending needed to support planned weapons programs in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 likely won’t materialize, as pressure increases to reduce the federal deficit, according to Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale.
    Growth in procurement spending of between 2 and 3 percent above inflation is needed or the military must cut, he said.
    “The White House been real clear. They still represent our interests and our priorities but everything is on the table and we need to be realistic,” Hale said.
    “We’re going to end up lower,” he said, citing cuts being considered by Congress. “How much is the question.”
    The next two years also will be “probably lower too. We’ll have to wait but I think that is realistic” to expect the projections won’t hold, Hale said in an interview with Bloomberg News on July 6.
    Hale a year ago said spending on weapons through 2016 likely would grow faster than the overall defense budget. The Pentagon in February projected an overall increase of 1 percent above inflation for the fiscal 2013 budget and a half percent for 2014. The remaining two years projected no real growth.
    Hale said he’s now not sanguine about achieving even that projection, to $571 billion in fiscal 2013 and $586 billion in 2014, from $553 billion requested for fiscal 2012.
    The estimates in the fiscal 2012 budget show procurement increasing to $137.2 by fiscal 2016, up from $113 billion in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The plan calls for $117.6 billion in fiscal 2013, $125.9 billion in 2014 and $129.5 billion in 2015, before reaching the $137.2 billion in 2016.
    Slower Growth
    “We would like to see that” growth, he said, “but I’m not sure it will come out of this budget debate and discussion of lower numbers.” The fiscal 2012-2014 projections are “certainly an upper bound. We probably won’t get that far,” he said.
    Hale said that major weapons program are “on the table” for potential cuts.
    “We will have to look at major programs, potentially -- it won’t be the first place we’ll go,” he said. “We’d like more efficiency, but there will be limits to what we can get out of that bin. So I would not say it’s off the table yet.”
    The Pentagon’s biggest weapons suppliers include Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Maryland; Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles; General Dynamics Corp. of Falls Church, Virginia; Boeing Co. of Chicago; and Raytheon Co. of Waltham, Massachusetts. $400 Billion or ‘Greater’ (Source: Bloomberg)


    ###
    end


    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All rights reserved.

    Monday, July 4, 2011

    ‘Lt Dan Band: For The Common Good’ Opens July 4th!

    ‘Lt Dan Band: For The Common Good’ Opens July 4th!



    You can sign up in advance to see the film July 4th, here.

    From the official website:

    When you stream “Lt. Dan Band: For The Common Good” – one out of every four dollars will be donated to The Gary Sinise Foundation which honors our nations defenders by supporting the USO, Operation International Children, Snowball Express, and other such charities and efforts that support the military, first responders and their families. Thank you for helping us give back to those willing to give all!

    Good man. Good band. Great cause.


    We’ll have much more to come on the film, but for now we encourage those of you interested in seeing the feature-length documentary to sign up in advance and then help to spread the word.





    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.

    Saturday, July 2, 2011

    Celebrate the 4th on the Waterfront!

    Celebrate the 4th on the Waterfront!
    Sponsored by RAM Restaurant & Brewery
    theram.com
    cishenanigans.com

    Meet your friends & family here on Monday starting at 11 a.m.

    We're featuring the biggest outdoor beer garden on the waterfront (over 21 only) with our full line-up of award-winning beers. Plus, drink features including: 3 Olives Grape & Cherry Bombers, Jager and Pinnacle Whipped Creamsicles in both the beer garden and our family area we will have Ram Cheeseburgers, Hot Dogs, Corn on the Cob, Ice Cream & Beverages.

    Biggest Stage and 4 Bands! Join the Party!
    Sponsored by The Emerald Queen Casino & Movin' 92.5 FM
    We'll have LIVE Music from noon until 10 p.m.!
    Featuring these great bands:

    Noon - 1:30 p.m. * 4 More
    3:30 - 5 p.m. * Loose Gravel
    5:30 - 7 p.m. * Sly Mr. Y
    7:30 - 10 p.m. * Harmonious Funk

    *** Watch the airshow here from 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. with synchronized music...!

    Movin' 92.5 Kids play area & party zones!

    Check out Margaritaville featuring Cuervo Margs & Corona beers!
    There's tasty beach fare or head to the Irish Pub toasting Guniess & Bushmills all day!
    Party with the Movin' 92.5 carzies and WIN GIVEAWAYS!
    Kids will enjoy the Inflatable bounce house sponsored by Clowns Unlimited!

    Fireworks are right in front of The Ram & Shenanigans!

    Click on the flyer to visit website!



    ###

    end


    Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.