Month: April 2018

If you do not know, I am a member of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Program at Penn State. Most people know that this means I wear a uniform once in a while and get up early in the morning to work out and that is about it.

Really what I am doing is I am being trained and prepared to lead men and women as an officer in the United State Navy. I will commission as an officer upon graduation from Penn State and immediately enter military service. Before I get to that point, the Department of Defense wants me to be trained and prepared so that I can come in as a trained asset, not an ignorant ensign (pronounced en-suh n). Ensign is the lowest officer rank, it is where I will start my military career from. My training consists of Physical Training (PT) which is mandatory as a battalion, accompanied with academic and leadership training. Each semester I must take a Naval Science class, ranging from Naval Engineering to Navigation. I also take two Leadership and Management courses that give me the academic knowledge and understanding to lead men and women.

Knowledge only becomes expertise when it is coupled with experience. The NROTC unit does a significant number of volunteering events and allows midshipmen (the term for those of us who are in ROTC or attending the Naval Academy) to lead and earn service experience. The Unit also consists of many different leadership roles as we have a structured leadership mirroring what we would see in service. Midshipmen are appointed over groups of other midshipman to take charge and lead them and keep them informed. There are specific jobs available for 1st class midshipmen (seniors) such as Operations Officer or Supply Officer with corresponding Officer Assistant positions for 2nd class midshipmen (juniors). These opportunities allow us to get real experience in what it is like to lead others and deal with the benefits and consequences that come with it.

This training will eventually culminate in me earning my commission as an officer in the US Navy and then getting sent to one of three different communities: submarines, surface warfare (ships), and aviation (marines also are commission through NROTC but they are on a specific route unlike my own and I would have to switch over to be a marine). I hope to get selected for aviation, this would happen if I have good scores on the ASTB (Aviation Selection Test Battery) which is a written exam, along with a high class standing to improve my chances of being selected as there are limited spots available. If I am selected then I will head down to Pensacola, Florida to attend Flight School. Here I would learn the basics of flying as well and possibly advanced training. After about a year I would be shipped off to my first squadron.

My hopes are to fly the V-22 Osprey for the Navy, whether I am selected for that depends greatly upon my own hard work and success as well as the needs of the Navy at that point in time. Either way, upon graduation I will be out serving the United States of America and I will proudly be doing so.  

I recently created a post on the use of chemical weapons in Syria and how it is possible that those atrocities are still occurring and President Bashar al-Assad, the primary user of these chemical weapons, is still holding power. There have been numerous threats from President Trump on how to retaliate to these attacks by the Syrian government on its own people. President Trump issued the statement that “Nothing is off the table” in regard to his response to Syria and their Russian allies who had stated that there would be no more chemical attacks in Syria by Assad.

There is speculation that these recent chemical attacks have come in the wake of President Trump stating his intentions to pull US forces out of Syria. With the prospect of an imminent US departure, President Assad may have taken the opportunity to once again issue a chemical attack on rebels, breaking international law in the process, because he believed there would be little response from foreign nations for committing such atrocities.

Is the US going to take action against Syria or Russia? Well, the US military and civilian leadership are currently waiting for reports from troops intelligence operators in the field to determine if the Syrian government and Russia are to be held responsible for this most recent attack. While in the past ISIS has used chemical weapons, they were the culprits for only one of the numerous uses of chemical weapons in Syria, with the Assad regime being convicted of the remaining. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has carried out investigations in Syria on past chemical attacks but have not stated when they will begin their investigation on the most recent attack. With the OPCW bot investigating currently and the US government feeling the necessity of a strong response to the use, the job has fallen on military intelligence to determine if it was Russian or Syrian aircraft who dropped chemical bombs on the rebel-controlled village of Douma.

What happens if the US figures out the attacks were from Russia or the Syrian government, what will their response be? Well, that is where the trouble comes. We are essentially in another Cold War with Russia and while people won’t say that for fear of causing panic and hysteria, that is what is happening. Russian soldiers or mercenaries have been killed in US ariel strikes but predominantly the fighting is between Syrian factions backed by the US or Russia. After the last chemical attack, the US launched missiles at a Syrian airbase and destroyed equipment and killed some Syrian soldiers. The US might pursue similar action but the Russians have threatened to shoot down US missiles or aircraft that attacks. We find ourselves on the verge of another war, probably not nuclear, but a shooting war nonetheless. Will US troops be deployed to Syria? Probably not as there is mass chaos and there would be significant loss of American life. Will the US increase bombing raids and artillery strikes? Possibly, they have done this before. We hope for a peaceful ending to this scenario or at least diplomatic communications as opposed to firing missiles but either are possible at this point in time.