Chris O'Dea @odeachris - Twitter Profile

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over 8 years ago

Question for today’s call with Xi: Is Piraeus or Long Beach next laser site? Ports & commercial shipping are the beachhead – countering Chinese power projection begins in the maritime trade domain. What’s in those containers?https://t.co/ql3wuqgn34

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ODeaChris retweeted

John Ʌ Konrad V

@johnkonrad

over 2 years ago · Massachusetts

I repeatedly get the same words applied to my national security posts calling for drastic change including serious Army cutbacks. People call me “ridiculous”, “silly”, and “idiotic” It must be nice to take such a view. I would love to argue that this service deserves an extra division of men or that service needs $50B for new aircraft. But that’s a luxury I do not have. My service is literally under fire in the Red Sea My service has a near zero military training budget My service moves the largest amount of explosives and hazardous materials per ton mile My service is limited to defensive weapons below 5.56 My service has less than 800 people in DC My services’ entire operating budget is less than $1B and that includes a nuclear decommissioning program My service has zero representation in the Think Tanks that create policy The average age on of equipment in my services’ reserve component is a half century old My service has not been issued a single medal or award for sailing explosives into a combat zone. My cabinet secretary has not once thanked us for our service resupplying the troops via the Red Sea Hell my service cannot even afford quality paint or uniforms The inescapable fact is the Army cannot operate in a war without the help of the US Merchant Marine (especially since slashing it watercraft units) and the Merchant Marine isn’t prepared for war by any metric available so…. what’s the point of an Army that can’t operate overseas in war? If you think it’s ridiculous to cut Army funding that’s your prerogative. I think it would be ridiculous to cut the Army to 800 staff, take away its uniforms, cut its VA benefits, give it 50 year old equipment and zero military training. Yet that’s exactly what the DoD has done to MY service. Hardly anyone calls that ridiculous, instead they call me ridiculous ��‍♂️ What they don’t understand is they have zero leverage over me. Strip a man of all rank and honor then he has nothing to lose. I have nothing to lose. My service has nothing to lose by offending you either. We are Rocky Balboa, old and bleeding in the last round on the ropes against a strong communist enemy with thousands of new merchant ships and serious military training. What can YOU possibly do to hurt my honor? We have nothing to lose. Call me and my ideas for change all the names you want but I WILL NOT GIVE UP THE SHIP not in peace, and not in war

johnkonrad's tweet photo. I repeatedly get the same words applied to my national security posts calling for drastic change including serious Army cutbacks. People call me “ridiculous”, “silly”, and “idiotic”

It must be nice to take such a view. I would love to argue that this service deserves an extra division of men or that service needs $50B for new aircraft. But that’s a luxury I do not have.

My service is literally under fire in the Red Sea

My service has a near zero military training budget

My service moves the largest amount of explosives and hazardous materials per ton mile

My service is limited to defensive weapons below 5.56

My service has less than 800 people in DC

My services’ entire operating budget is less than $1B and that includes a nuclear decommissioning program

My service has zero representation in the Think Tanks that create policy

The average age on of equipment in my services’ reserve component is a half century old

My service has not been issued a single medal or award for sailing explosives into a combat zone.

My cabinet secretary has not once thanked us for our service resupplying the troops via the Red Sea

Hell my service cannot even afford quality paint or uniforms

The inescapable fact is the Army cannot operate in a war without the help of the US Merchant Marine (especially since slashing it watercraft units) and the Merchant Marine isn’t prepared for war by any metric available so…. what’s the point of an Army that can’t operate overseas in war?

If you think it’s ridiculous to cut Army funding that’s your prerogative.

I think it would be ridiculous to cut the Army to 800 staff, take away its uniforms, cut its VA benefits, give it 50 year old equipment and zero military training. Yet that’s exactly what the DoD has done to MY service. Hardly anyone calls that ridiculous, instead they call me ridiculous ��‍♂️

What they don’t understand is they have zero leverage over me. Strip a man of all rank and honor then he has nothing to lose. I have nothing to lose. My service has nothing to lose by offending you either. We are Rocky Balboa, old and bleeding in the last round on the ropes against a strong communist enemy with thousands of new merchant ships and serious military training. What can YOU possibly do to hurt my honor? We have nothing to lose.

Call me and my ideas for change all the names you want but I WILL NOT GIVE UP THE SHIP not in peace, and not in war

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ODeaChris retweeted

John Ʌ Konrad V

@johnkonrad

over 2 years ago · Massachusetts

We could clear the bridge in weeks IF 1) our federal maritime agencies @DOTMARAD & @USCG were fully funded and functional 2) we had heavylift, salvage and offshore construction ships on hand. We don’t The Navy sold off almost its entire fleet of salvage ships. We don’t even have a single fireboat in the Navy’s most important port. 3) The Navy hadn’t outsourced the majority of its salvage operations to a European company Sailing assets from Europe would take weeks and would anger certain powerful lobbyists 4) The Army didn’t sell off the majority of it’s watercraft fleet and deprioritize the Corps of Engineers maritime missions 5) If our DOT Ready Reserve fleet was fully functional and not a half a century old 6) if the balance sheets of our US shipping companies, tugboat operators, construction companies encouraged growth 7) if silicon valley investors didn’t have a revulsion to investing in maritime startups with revolutionary new ideas 8) if the media understood ships and focused on the right stories and pushed DC in the right directions 9) if environmental regulations were not onerous 10) local port politics

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Chris O'Dea @ODeaChris

over 3 years ago

https://t.co/7FH732Cmmr To deliver goods we asked them to make, China built the world's strongest commercial maritime logistics force. Now we ask China's state shipping alliance to run our ports and terminals. What could go wrong? Read Ships of State https://t.co/E7MOh74li4

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