War Without the Internet? Commandant Says Marines Need to Revive Old-Style Comms
by Marine Corps Times
To get through a war with a near-peer competitor like China or Russia, Marines will need to master basics in communication and navigation, said the Marine Corps commandant.
Ralph Peters wrote a book named The War After Armageddon.
I found him to be a bit of a crackpot but that book depicts just what KC has brought up.
Running old landlines extending as the forces gain or lose ground, etc. He also gets into drone swarms which I think they are already testing.
The battles depict old-style stuff being used in conjunction with near future tech.
Scary read.
It’s probably been mentioned here already, but Millennium Challenge 2002 was an excellent example of how simple, non-electronic tactics and be used to great effect against a technologically superior enemy.
Isn’t thhat the one where the blue team changed all the rules because the red team was so clearly winning?
If we ever have a beer sometime ask me to rell you the story about how pentagon finally got hold of the Maersk Alabama after numerous failed attemlts. (Or don’t ask me… the subsequent rant will probably extinguish the good times).
One of the interesting takeaways from the FTZ/ACX Crystal incident was that apparently Crystal tried to contact FTZ, not via BTB, but with flashing light. I am learning that flashing light is a requirement for STCW, but I can honestly say there might be half a dozen people, max, on the average Navy ship that could break any message received. Blame the atrophy on the loss of dedicated signalmen; it got to the point when we did flag hoists as part of DIVTACs that the OTC would send over a copy of all the maneuvers ahead of time, which we had printed out on the bridge. Same goes for things like CELNAV or even LORAN C - those skills are about as common in the fleet as 16" gun operations.
Yeah pretty much. Red team under Van Riper pretty much destroyed the entire of Blue team in 48hrs, leaving 13 days of the planned exercise with nobody left to exercise in it. Top Navy brass was less than pleased.
That was discussed on an earlier thread Very unlikely that the crew of the Crystal was using Morse code. -the “flashing light” most likely refers to the practice of using a light to shine at another vessel to get their attention, blinking or sweeping.
The brass reacted the same way when Marcinko of Seal Team Six fame breached security at Navy bases and smuggled guns through airports in the Red Cell exercises. They were upset because he wasn’t playing “fair”.