Random News and Notes 15 November

We kick off this edition of RNN with a sad note. USAF Col. Robert Stirm has passed. One or two of you will recognize the name, most of the rest will remember the Pulitzer prize winning image called Burst of Joy.

Stirm was shot down over Hanoi on 27 October 1967 while leading a bombing run of F-105s. He would be held in various North Vietnamese prisons including Son Tây and Hoa Lo – the infamous Hanoi Hilton – until March of 1973.

Col. Robert L Stirm was 92.

Until Valhalla

While the image is a joyful one, the story behind it is less so. Stirm’s wife Loretta, had a ‘Dear John” letter delivered to him while he was undergoing medical tests at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam three days before this photo was taken. Stirm knew the marriage was over. The wife was a cheating wh*re, banging several men while Robert was imprisoned. The affairs started less than a year after he was shot down. She got at least 3 marriage proposals. They would be divorced less than a year later. And as bad as that was, it got worse for Stirm. Despite plenty of evidence of her being a cheating wh*re the entire time he was a POW, the judge in the case ordered Stirm pay spousal support and give up nearly 50% of his AF retirement. She also got custody of the two youngest children.

There are reports out of Germany that the Bundeswehr is going to restart conscription. Makes you wonder.

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In reality, it isn’t a huge deal despite what the chattering classes are saying. The draft is written into the German constitution. It was last enforced in 2011. They stopped to appease one of the factions in Mutti Merkel’s ruling coalition. Part of the motivation to restart is that the Bundeswehr is having trouble filling its ranks and keeping contract troopers. There won’t be any anschluss or occupation of Sudetenland any time soon. I just wanted to flex my historical knowledge of marching songs. . .

Something is going to pop off in the SOUTHCOM AO pretty soon. The USS Gerald R Ford CSG is now on-station in the Southern Caribbean, near Venezuela. The amount of just Navy firepower in that area is immense.

While it is possible that this is just a show, there are reasons to think something kinetic is about to go down. Rumor has it that one of the SeAL modified Virginia class missile subs is in the region along with all those other assets. You don’t have a buildup like this just to sink some speedboats and semi-submersibles.

At this point, the worst thing that could happen is everyone packs up and goes home without any further action. That would make the threats coming from the White House and Pentagon ring hollow. If you say you’re gonna beat the crap out of someone and then back away you look like a weak loudmouth.

The Iranians hijacked an oil tanker transiting the Straits of Hormuz yesterday. The IRGC boarded the Marshall Islands flagged M/V Talara about 25 miles off the coast of the UAE around 0822 local time. The ship has been taken into Iranian waters. This was the first IRGC hijacking since 13 April of this year when they grabbed the MSC Aries.

The Talara, while flagged in the Marshalls, is owned by a Cypriot company, Pasha Finance. Pasha is allegedly owned by the family of Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan. This seizure could mean all kinds of things, none good.

On Thursday I told you about the issues between Cambodia and Thailand. Well, President Trump took notice and had calls with the leaders of both countries. He seems to have ended it. Again.

We’ll see if it sticks. I have my doubts.