For those watching the news the past few days it should come as no surprise that Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda locally) – one of the strongest ever to make landfall – has wreaked devastation across a central swath of the Philippines (and is headed in weakened state for Vietnam). The death toll could well top 10,000 and the naval forces of the Philippines, the U.S., and other nations are expected to help in the recovery efforts.
On Saturday Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that Pacific Command will initially provide “surface maritime SAR, medium-heavy helicopter lift support, airborne maritime SAR, fixed-wing lift support, and logistics enablers.” Marines from 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) in Okinawa, along with KC-130J Hercules, MV-22 Ospreys, and P-3C Orions are in the Philippines or expected to arrive shortly.
Naval forces may have been told in the days prior to ‘lean forward’, which would complete the journey soon for sustained Humanitarian Assistance / Disaster Response (HA/DR) efforts. These are in addition to the U.S. forces and AID efforts already present, mostly in the south of the nation.
I’m hearing “US Navy assets are leaning forward towards Philippines” but no official statement yet.
Meanwhile analysts and foreign observers are watching to see China’s reaction – whether it comes in the form of aid or taking the opportunity to press its “changing the situation on the ground” approach to territorial claims.
Two ways to personally provide support to relief efforts are through the Red Cross and Team Rubicon. Please also remember the greatest need is often weeks after the initial disaster.
*Update: A member of veteran-staffed Team Rubicon will be on hand to collect donations if you are interested in making any to aid Philippine relief efforts post Typhoon Haiyan as well as to explain volunteer opportunities with the organization. Donations are strictly voluntary.*
CIMSEC’s DC chapter will be heading to the new Bluejacket Brewery near the Navy Yard Metro stop for our informal November meet-up Wednesday the 20th. We hope you’ll join us to meet some interesting people, discuss all things maritime, or just enjoy good beer and/or food. This event will be co-hosted with the DC chapter of the Disruptive Thinkers group. No need to be a member to join us – the more the merrier. Look for us in the bar area where we have a few tables reserved.
For those who can’t get enough of our sometimes witty, sometimes prescient, sometimes just out-in-left-field writing there’s good news! Now you can spend the weekend reading more from our membership. Here’s what they’ve been up to:
If you’re a member and don’t see your outside efforts above, be sure to email me at director@cimsec.org.
If you’re not a member (and you can check here) and would like to be you can fill out the short, simple, free memberhip application, which gives you access to all sorts of great things, like digital tote bags.
Cost of the all-volunteer force in its current form is unsustainable. In the FY 2013 budget, the DoD cost of “taking care of people” consumes more than $250 billion or over 50 percent of the total DoD budget. An additional $200 billion is spent by organizations outside of DoD for programs within the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Labor, Education, and Treasury. [1]
In its July 2012 Study: Rebalancing Military Compensation: An Evidence-Based Approach , the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment concluded: “Over the past decade, the cost per person in the active-duty force increased by 46 percent, excluding war funding and adjusting for inflation. If personnel costs continue growing at that rate and the overall defense budget remains flat with inflation, military personnel costs will consume the entire defense budget by 2039.[2]
Modifications to the pay and benefits will have to be made; however, the all-volunteer force is not going away. Military Pay and Benefits and will remain a major factor in cost to the Federal Government and the Department of Defense, increasingly impacting resources available for force structure and weapon systems modernization. The Reserve Policy Review Board (footnote 1 below) reported that in FY 13, the fully burdened total cost to the US government for an active component military person is $384,622 per year. The total life cycle cost to the US government for an active component member is $10.3 million.
The 2013 DoD Strategic Choices and Management Review (SCMR) review developed compensation savings options such as: changing military health care for retirement; changing how the basic allowance for housing is calculated; reducing the overseas cost-of-living adjustments; and, limiting military and civilian pay increases. The SecDef did not recommend specific SCMR compensation changes but tasked the Chairman JCS to lead the development of compensation proposals that save almost $50 billion over the next decade. Implementation would begin in the FY 2015 budget. The SCMR identified more sweeping changes to meet sequester funding level targets to include eliminating civilian pensions for retired military personnel serving in civilian government service; ending subsidies for defense commissaries; and, restricting the availability of unemployment benefits. These changes would save almost $100 billion over the next decade, but they would significantly impact the DoD workforce.
In addition to the aforementioned changes in DoD military and civilian pay and benefits being considered, two changes in DoD acquisition policy may offer savings to offset at least some of the more painful pay and benefit changes.
First, savings could be realized if the DoD acquisition process required the services to reflect the total cost to the federal government of manpower in their computations of total life cycle costs for alternative weapons system designs such as Navy combatants. As an example, a DDG-1000 is to have a size crew of 142 sailors compared to approximately 300 on a DDG 51. This DDG crew size reduction of 158 military personnel translates to approximately $1.6 billion life cycle cost avoidance per ship in military pay and benefits to the US government, and the Navy.
Second, savings could be realized by severely reducing the detailed requirements in the fifty-eight page Chairman JCS Instruction CJCSI 6212.01F, subject: Net Ready Key Performance Parameter.[3] These requirements levied on all Defense acquisition programs add significant cost to each program; add workload for service, OSD and Joint Staff review; and, require contractors to support the OSD and Joint Staff processes. Interoperability among service and agency systems is essential for effective military operations. That said, the requirements in CJCSI 6212.01 are overwhelming in detail, adding significant cost but resulting in limited improvements in interoperability. Interoperability can be achieved at dramatically lower cost to the department.
Richard Mosier is a former Naval aviator (VQ/VP). He served as a career civil servant working for the Director of Naval Intelligence in the 1970s and the Office of the Secretary of Defense staff (OASD(C3I)), retiring from the government in 1997 as an SES. From 1997 to 2010 worked as an engineer for a defense contractor.
[1] Reserve Forces Policy Board, Final Report to the Secretary of Defense, Subject: Eliminating Major Gaps in DoD Data on the Fully-Burdened and Life-Cycle Cost of Military Personnel: Cost Elements Should be Mandated by Policy, (RFPB Report FY13-02) dated January 7, 2013.
For those watching the news the past few days it should come as no surprise that Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda locally) – one of the strongest ever to make landfall – has wreaked devastation across a central swath of the Philippines (and is headed in weakened state for Vietnam). The death toll could well top 10,000 and the naval forces of the Philippines, the U.S., and other nations are expected to help in the recovery efforts.
