Lessons of Jutland

On May 31 and June 1 in 1916 the British Royal Navy Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy High Fleet and clashed off of Jutland Denmark. This was the culmination of twenty years of fleet building and a huge cost in capital. The results were surprising and after 100 years we can learn from it, and not just in military matters.

Military force was projected in this age with guns, the bigger the better. Big guns could throw bigger shells farther and keep your ship out of range of lesser threats. Ships routinely did this, gunboat diplomacy was the name used for this tactic. The United States used it frequently in South America. Britain applied it in the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa. The mere presents of big guns often solved political problems.

To get the big guns there faster became very important, and this created a new role for a new ship. The battlecruiser was just a battleship with lighter armor. The big ships were a balance of speed, armor or defense and guns or offense. The battlecruiser strategy was to engage anything with guns that could not penetrate your own armor and run from anything that could. This makes threat assessment absolutely the most important decision of a Captains life. Jutland pointed this out, at the cost of over 4,000 lives.

In less than three hours Britain lost three battlecruisers, in spectacular fashion. These ships did not just sink, they exploded and sunk. The failure was not one of strategy, but of tactics. When war came and a general engagement was required the admiral of the battlecruiser squadrons sighted the German force after he was in range of the big guns and lost two ships in minutes, a third ship was lost two hours later. British losses were over 3,000 men. The next day a German ship made the same mistake and was also destroyed. The heavy plunging shells easily penetrated the lighter armor and detonated deep within the ship. It is suspected the shell may have penetrated the entire ship and detonated beneath, essentially breaking it apart and creating massive damage to the watertight structures designed to keep it afloat. Fuel, munitions and shells were also detonated in the explosion.

This was a great blow to the doctrines of navies of the day. The lesson was clear that the balance of speed, defense and offense must be maintained, yet in the very next war the battlecruiser Hood, the biggest and grandest ship in the British Navy was lost to one shell fired from the battleship Bismarck. Everyone knew that the Hood needed an upgrade to her armor, but in the decades following the Great War there was never money in the treasury to do that upgrade and when war she was needed at sea.

Hood was obsolete when she was built, and by World War II the battleship was also obsolete. Bismarck, the ship that sunk her was undone by a single Swordfish torpedo bomber, a biplane from a small pathetic aircraft carrier. This torpedo jammed her steering and she could not run from her pursuit. Today some wonder if the supercarriers of the United States are also obsolete, vulnerable to new highspeed torpedoes and hypersonic weapons.

Are we obsolete? Are we upgrading ourselves now in “peace time”? Will we be ready when our call comes? Our self-assessments are very important. What do we need to balance in our lives to survive the coming war? How quickly can you adapt to change?

I sometimes feel like the Hood. I have an MBA and graduated at the top of the class with a GPA of 3.8 and did special projects. I loved that time in my life. I was working full time while I completed this education. I also have a degree in Mathematics. I am a great problem solver. For the last six months I have been looking for work. I am wondering what is out of balance, what do I need to improve on? Can I compete with the young graduates? Can I complete as companies look to outsource to people in Asia?

My competitive skills lie in my intimate knowledge of issues in the United States, my ability to analyze the current situation and forecast the likely outcomes while minimizing risk. Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. I learn from it. The fact that I am looking back at Jutland as well as the crash of 2008 gives me greater value than the typical MBA or the contract worker in Hyderabad.

Balance and eating

I know a woman that heard that kidney stones are made of calcium. She didn’t want kidney stones so she out calcium. No dairy, no calcium supplements even when doctors suggested or even proscribed. She always thought of the stones and would avoid the calcium. It was just an odd thing in her life, and we all  one or two oddities. After three decades she suffered horribly from osteoporosis in her back. Pain was a horrible and daily trial, but she never had a kidney stone.

My father was a famously unbalanced eater. He knew the science, he was well informed, but he tended to extremes. When a 1200 calorie diet was popular he started tracking. If 1200 was good than 800 was better. I found records of him going weeks on tomatoes and cucumbers, proudly recording under 500 calories per day. Yes, he did lose weight on this diet. Later he went low fat, or no fat. High protein was a better diet for him, but again he would try for minimum carbs and live on almonds and frozen peas.

Both of these people lived long lives into their 80’s. They are remarkable for the discipline they showed in daily life. I am not. I am overweight. I eat too much. One challenge is it easier to be extreme than it is to be moderate. I might be able to live a month on almonds and peas like my dad did, and I would lose weight. It might even help me get me “get back in shape” but I dislike the idea of going so extreme.

For me balance will involve more than just what I eat, what I do is also important. Exercise is not the answer. I’ve gone down that path many times, I push too hard and get hurt. Managing my food, my exercise and listening to my body is the path I need to embrace, but this has a real challenge and a biological problem. It is called “Le Chatelier’s principle” a system at equilibrium will adjust to any stress to that equilibrium. I am a complicated biochemical mass of around 280 pounds. When I diet or exercise I put stress on that equilibrium. My systems adjust to maintain that balance. I work hard, diet and the scale still reads 286.8 pounds every day for a week. Why? I mean half a pound is a cup of water. How can I stay the same every day? A million years of evolution conspires to help me retain weight. Generations of my ancestors somehow avoided starvation. Now,  I live in world of supper-abundant calories. Reducing for a week won’t do it, and stunt diets like all potatoes or vegan extremism is not how I want to live.

At this point I have no solution, just questions. The slow approach of more exercise, and better diet with more vegetables, and less meat.

Balance an introduction

Balance is a very difficult thing to master. Just try standing on one foot for a minute. Most of start to wave our arms after a few seconds. We use, and miss use the word balance on a daily basis. We also miss use words like “Right”, “Left”, “Conservative”, “Liberal”, “Republican”, “Democrat” and a host of other words. All of these words imply that there is a simple line between two points and we can “Balance” that line like a simple scale. The real world does not work that way. Also we talk about a “Balanced Diet” or a Balanced Life”, what does that mean?

In the real world all of these words are lies. To have real meaning we would need to know where the “Center” is and we really don’t. We think if we let the most extreme people talk, then we will naturally balance in the center. It make for noise without communication and heat without light. In the next few blogs I will be exploring some of the most controversial topics with the idea of examining the center, not the extremes.

Can we find common ground in politics, education, healthcare, abortion and reproductive rights? Can we even decide what a moderate, balanced diet looks like? Sometimes we fail to find common ground if we compromise we are taken advantage of. This pushes us to the extremes, and media cheers us on to sale products, get clicks and and attention.

Start by asking a different question: “How can we get guns off the street?” turns into “How can we reduce violent crime?” “How can we eliminate abortion?” turns into “How can we reduce unwanted pregnancies?” and “How can we reduce the cost of healthcare?” can be changed to “How can we improve the health of Americans?”

These questions are not threatening, take no ones rights away, and allows us to work together.

Silhouette of a woman in standing yoga pose at sunset

America

I do not celebrate the 4^th of July because of the might and majesty of the United States of America. I celebrate the Idea that men and women should govern themselves and the Law should originate from the People it serves. This was the founding ideas that lead to this great country.

There are some who criticize the United States; they point to the horrors that have occurred under our banner. And horrors abound: Slavery, Racism, Oppression, Internment Camps, Indian Affairs and Reservations, Veteran’s Hospitals, IRS scandals, corrupt, self-serving members of Congress and Senate. But for every horror and scandal there is a plethora of greatness.

America freed her slaves and fought the bloodiest war she has ever fought for over it.

America confronted racism; as a child I watched if systematically wiped out. We do not school, hire or limit anyone based on race. Does it still exist? Yes, but not as an institution. Nothing demonstrates this more than the fact that we elected a black president, not once but twice.

The multilayered court system assures that oppression of a local government cannot remain for long. State and Federal courts routinely override local courts where favoritism or bias occurs.

I live in Utah where you can still go see Camp Topaz where US Citizens were detained because of their Japanese ancestry.   Yet, many of these same Americans volunteered for service in Europe, others used language skills to serve this country while still considered second class. They rose above oppression even while in it. Approximately 6,000 young people of Japanese descent were involved with Military Intelligence during World War II.

The Navajo Code talkers of WWII are another great example of service to a country from a people who had been oppressed by that same country.

Today the Ute Indian Reservation faces extinction, not from outside pressure or military might, but from alcohol, suicide, depression. They plight they face is mirrored in other reservations. Yet, I see the flag flying boldly at Native sights. Some of the most patriotic people I’ve ever met I met through scouts where we asked a Native American to come speak to our youth about scouting values.

Everywhere you look today you will see veterans, some with missing limbs, clearly wounded in service. Many carry their wounds inside. Combat changes people and not often in good ways. They need your service and your love. Before you pick up a sign and go to a protest, go to a veteran’s hospital and volunteer. Don’t waste your time criticizing the world, change it, one person at a time.

Want to fix politics, get involved. Join a party, or create your own. You think this is crazy? Think of Jefferson, Adams, Handcock, forming a political institution to challenge Great Britain. Write your Congress members and Senators. They do pay attention to these things. Give constructive ideas and not just criticism. They represent you, they should know what you think. Do you honestly think the Affordable Care Act would have been 5,000 pages long if common people had been involved in its writing? Do you honestly think the VA hospitals would have nine month waiting list for psychiatric treatment for suicidal veterans if common more people were volunteering to serve?

Do you really think our schools would be turning out substandard students if more parents were involved? My wife volunteered for years reading and teaching math facts to kindergarten and 4^th graders. We still run into some of these people, grown now. I’m always tempted to ask them, “Quick 7 x 8?”

This country is great because of its ideas, ideas that start and end with the people. There is greatness in all of us and when we work together we are more than the sum of our parts. We build on each other. We help each other. We nurture each other. What would we do if the federal government came to a complete standstill? We would do what we normally do, help, nurture and build a local organization to pick up and carry on.

Yes, I will celebrate the United States of America. I will salute the flag. I will respect veterans and police officers and even politicians for the service they give that I may be free. I will salute and stand for all of these things, even while I strive to reform and correct the errors and atrocities that have and still exist. We do not live in a perfect country, but we do live in the best country on earth. And you and I can and should be working to make this country better.

On Grief

Oh God, where art thou? When those I love grieve, When words are but hollow echoes, When pain and sorrow wash over us like a wave in the deep. Lord, heal my faith. Make whole these shattered souls.…

Source: On Grief

Prayer for a Basset Hound

Oh, Dog, protect our home. God and nature  has endowed thee with ears to hear and a nose to smell, to discern right from wrong, and sniff out evil intent. Thy jaws shall rend and tear the meat from…

Source: Prayer for a Basset Hound