Cruising around the blogosphere this morning I came across Joel’s take on this recent piece from Simon World - I hadn’t read it before now and now that I have, I’ve got some thoughts.

In rare criticism, the People’s Liberation Army Daily has criticised the armed forces taking part in a major live-fire exercise for their lack of efficiency and failure to master the skills needed to wage information warfare. The criticism followed poor results from the recent Hanhai Storm exercises on the Kerqin grassland in Tongliao city , Inner Mongolia , according to the paper.

Three divisions, comprising about 50,000 troops, from the Shenyang military region took part in the four-stage exercises, in which the troops representing the PLA were defeated by the enemy Blue Army - believed to have simulated US battle techniques.

In the first stage, the Red Army was ordered to repel the attacking Blue Army. Despite its firepower being strengthened by the availability of six hi-tech aircraft, the Red Army troops were defeated because the army commander forgot to call in air support. The other three stages revealed the PLA officers were slow to respond and did not have a firm grasp of the advanced technologies needed to stage information warfare.

Antony Wong, president of the International Military Association in Macau, thought the exercises simulated a “ground battle” on the Korean Peninsula, with the Blue Army representing the US.

Simon World

I do hope somebody in the Washington/Seoul heirarchy is paying attention to this, not that a country conducting exercises to keep its soldiers in the practice of warfighting is necessarily worrying, but consider the location and capabilities of the groups concerned and this becomes something to keep an eye on.

Given that the Shenyang Military Region has a field strength of 250,000 it becomes fairly clear (well to me anyway) that this was an exercise of the command structure (look at the number of troops utilised) and it would appear they did not do so well. With any luck this means the command and logistical infrastructure does not yet exist to such a degree as to be able to effectively weild a quarter of a million soldiers in a field environment (no mean feat for certain) - chances are it doesn’t though, more likely is one or two of the commanders are just good old fashioned clusterf#c#s.

As yet there is nothing, as far as I am concerned, to be troubled by, however the recent tensions on and around the peninsula (NB: final emphasised paragraph) make it fairly clear to me that now is the time for diplomacy, not posturing (from both sides - don’t hear me wrong there). It’s time for the generally useless politicians of the world to step up and begin a dialogue of interaction and peace, start early before any (ok - too much more) bad blood starts running - please don’t fuck this up as well, it’s not in anyone’s best interests.

Hat Tip to Joel and Simon - linkage/emphasis inside article mine.

Driving home this evening I was listening to the radio, as is my wont on long (or for that matter short) car journeys when along came an advertisement for the Royal Military College Duntroon. Being a current (albeit part-time) student of this great establishment I was naturally interested and, it would not be unfair to say, more than a little disturbed by what I heard.

When (or I suppose if) you hear the advertisement you’ll know straight away which one I mean but the basic gist is that if a 4 or 5 year degree sounds like too much work come to RMC and get a job in 2. I believe the wording goes something along the lines of;

‘Haven’t got 4 years to wait around ? becoming an army officer takes just 18 months’

Is this really the type of advertising we want luring future professional officers of the Australian Army ? I bloody hope not.

‘So can’t be arsed putting in the effort to get a bachelors ? don’t have the stamina for an apprenticeship ? come join the army you’re our type of guy’

I am saddened to think that anyone would be allowed to lead Australian soldiers (arguably some of the finest in the world) with an attitude like that, though there is little cause for alarm, anyone joining under such a premise has little to no chance of making it through the RMC coursework IMO.

I was reminded of an article called Khaki ambassadors I read in the Herald Sun which sums up the crisis in military recruiting in this country quite well, give it a read because Mr. Bolt puts it far better than I could.

In case you’re wondering what kind of people the army is looking for in their officer ranks - here’s a thought;

…the 27-year-old lieutenant in Baghdad found the army didn’t issue the right equipment for platoons like his to break into houses during operations to clear urban areas. So he ordered two sets of door-breaking tools over the internet, using money scrounged from his regiment.

Khaki ambassadors Herald Sun 30 dec ‘05