Vance Would Be First Marine VP

Photo by Gage Skidmore and licensed under Creative Commons.
Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.
J.D. Vance, a former Marine corporal, is the first military veteran on a major presidential ticket since John McCain in 2008 and the first former enlisted vet on the ballot since Al Gore in 2000. Task & Purpose reports Vance served a four-year enlistment in the Marines from 2003 to 2007 as a combat correspondent, deploying to Iraq for six months in late 2005. Donald Trump confirmed Monday that Vance is his pick as a vice presidential candidate. Vance, 39, is the first post-9/11 veteran to find a spot on a major party ticket and, if elected, would likely be the first Marine veteran to serve as the second-in-command, says Military.com.
Republicans are vowing to rid the military of “woke left-wing Democrats” in their newly approved platform that lays out their governing vision should they win in November’s elections. Military.com reports down from the 66-page platform of 2016, the GOP’s 2024, 16-page document is light on detailed plans, but on the last page states, “Republicans will ensure our military is the most modern, lethal and powerful force in the world. We will invest in cutting-edge research and advanced technologies, including an Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield, support our troops with higher pay, and get woke left-wing Democrats fired as soon as possible.”
Nineteen veterans groups on Monday condemned the attempted assassination of former President Trump and urged Americans to keep violence out of politics. Military Times reports the groups released a joint statement in which they said all Americans had the responsibility of “lowering the temperature” in today’s political discourse and insisted that “we all have more in common than not.” Signatory groups included: We the Veterans, AmVets, Veterans of Foreign Wars, National Military Family Association, Student Veterans of America, Blue Star Families, More Perfect Union, Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Mission Role Call, Combined Arms, Military Veterans In Journalism, Military Family Advisory Network, Veterans for All Voters, National Security Leaders for America, The Chamberlain Network, Disabled Veteran Empowerment Network, Millions of Conversations, Vet Voice Foundation, and VetsForward.
Robots and other smart machinery will comprise up to one-third of the US military in the next 10 to 15 years, retired Army GEN Mark Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at an Axios event last week.
The aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is back at Naval Station Norfolk, wrapping up 275 days at sea, most of it spent in the Middle East, reports Navy Times. While underway, the carrier and its strike group shot down a barrage of Iran-backed Houthi drones and missiles on a regular basis, as part of what officials say is the Navy’s most kinetic conflict since World War II. CO CAPT Chris Hill said, of the 4,000-person crew, “every day for the last nine months, I’ve observed the consistent, relentless professionalism of the men and women aboard Ike.”
The Israeli military on Tuesday said it would begin sending draft notices to Jewish ultra-Orthodox men on Sunday — a step that could destabilize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, reports AP News. A Supreme Court order overturned long-standing political arrangements, exempting ultra-Orthodox men from the draft, which is compulsory for most Jewish men. The exemptions created resentment in Israel after more than nine months of war.
The CIA has assessed that the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, the key architect of the October 7 massacre in Israel, is coming under increased pressure from his own military commanders to accept a ceasefire deal and end the war with Israel. CNN reports that at a closed-door conference on Saturday, CIA Director Bill Burns said Sinwar is not “concerned with his mortality” but is facing pressure about being blamed for the enormity of the suffering in Gaza.
The US will not reinstall its Gaza pier, currently in port in Ashdod, Israel, reports CBS News. Bedeviled by bad weather and mechanical malfunctions, the pier was in operation for about 20 days since installed in May and delivered nearly 20 million pounds of aid.
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability says it has not received key investigative documents from the Defense Department about V-22 Osprey crashes and is threatening to take action if it doesn’t receive the information by later this month. Military.com reports the Pentagon has not provided a comprehensive list and all safety investigation reports of every class-A Osprey mishap from 1991 to the present.
The US Navy’s CMV-22 Osprey transport aircraft will replace C-2A Greyhounds and deployed at the Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture, south of Hiroshima, reports Japan Times, the first Osprey deployment at Iwakuni and first Navy Osprey deployment in Japan. Marine and Air Force Ospreys have deployed at US bases in Okinawa Prefecture and Tokyo. The US will also deploy F-35C stealth fighter jets at Iwakuni, replacing squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters, Stars and Stripes reports.
RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney has cleared an early design hurdle for a planned upgrade to the F-35’s engine, which the company maintains is “on track” to field by 2029, reports Breaking Defense.
DefSec Lloyd Austin last week talked with the Russian defense minister for the second time in less than a month, the Pentagon said. Stars and Stripes reports Austin and Andrei Belousov last spoke on June 25, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. The call on Friday was initiated by Belousov.
Task & Purpose reports direct ties between senior US and Chinese military leaders have been restored following a rough patch last year when a Chinese spy balloon overflew the United States. President Joe Biden told reporters last week he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to resume military-to-military communication, suspended by Beijing in late 2023 following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August 2022 visit to Taiwan. Then the US shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina in early 2023.
Gate security at Fort Liberty, NC, lumped mainstream anti-abortion groups and non-violent, left-wing groups in with extremist groups, reports Military.com. Leading Republican lawmakers are demanding answers only about inclusion of the anti-abortion slide to charge that the Army is targeting conservative political beliefs.

Senior Airman Isaiah Demillo demonstrates the windlass tourniquet belt function he invented. The prototype was created with the help of the Air Flight Equipment school and Faculty Development. (Photo by Julie Svoboda, 82nd Training Wing)
Senior Airman Isaiah Demillo’s ingenuity has transformed a belt into a tourniquet that could win him a patent. This week, the country liaison for the 82nd Training Support Squadron will head to a six-week Air Force course in Pittsburgh to refine Demillo’s prototype and get the backing of medical experts before seeking wide-scale adoption, reports Stars and Stripes. Demillo, 23, stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, joined the Air Force in 2021 and learned during a Tactical Combat Casualty Care course the uniform “belt was missing the spinning portion . . . So I thought to myself, ‘Add one.’” He applied for the patent in February for the Demillo Rigger’s tourniquet belt.
Microsoft on Tuesday released a total of 143 security patches — 139 for its own products, and four for third-party solutions. Redmond Magazine reports the July patch rollout is the largest since April, when Microsoft issued a record 147 fixes.
Google parent company Alphabet Inc. is reportedly set to buy cloud-server start-up firm Wiz, for nearly $23 billion, the internet giant’s largest ever acquisition. Breaking Defense relays the deal reported by The Wall Street Journal, and confirmed by Reuters. Wiz, founded in Israel, now run out of New York, was created by tech mogul billionaire Assaf Rappaport and provides real-time threat detection and responses for cloud environments by using artificial intelligence.
On July 14, 1789, revolutionaries stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in Paris, heralding the start of the French Revolution and the end of the monarchy. This year Bastille Day fell 12 days before the French capital hosts exceptionally ambitious and high-security Summer Games, bringing the Olympic torch to the annual military celebrations, reports Stars and Stripes.
Contracts:
Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine (N00024-22-C-2318); and Huntington Ingalls Inc. (HII), Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi (N00024-22-C-2319); are each awarded a cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded contracts to exercise options for the accomplishment of shipbuilder engineering and design analysis and products in support of the Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG(X)). The specific modification award amounts for these requirements are considered source-selection sensitive information (see 41 US Code 2101, et seq., Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.101 and FAR 3.104) and will not be made public at this time. Work will be performed in Bath, Maine (99%); and Washington, DC (1%) and is expected to be completed by July 2025. HII Ingalls work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi (84%); Avondale, Louisiana (12%); and Newport News, Virginia (4%), and is expected to be completed by July 2025. If all options are exercised, work will continue through July 2028 for each contract. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation funds will be obligated at time of award for each contract and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. These contracts were not competitively procured and were awarded without a full and open competition per 10 US Code 2304(c)(3), Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Development, or Research Capability; or Expert Services. Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
R&R Janitorial, Painting & Building Services Inc., Washington, DC, was awarded a $28,750,000 firm-fixed-price contract for custodial services. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2030. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W56ZTN-24-D-0008).
Hypori Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $16,220,000 firm-fixed-price contract for help desk support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Reston, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of July 18, 2027. Fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $16,220,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W519TC-24-C-0028).
Q-Techn LLC, Beavercreek Township, Ohio, was awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract in the total maximum dollar value of $81,300,000 for the Air Force National Capital Region (AFNCR) system engineering and technical assistance support. This contract provides for sustainment of infrastructure communications systems and equipment located within the AFNCR. Work will be performed at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland; and Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, DC, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 21, 2030. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and three offers were received. Fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,000,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force District of Washington Enterprise Support Division, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity (FA7014-24-D-0008).
Alaska Marine Lines Inc., Seattle, Washington (HTC71124DW001); American President Lines LLC, Arlington, Virginia (HTC71124DW002); American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier LLC, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida (HTC71124DW003); Crowley Government Services Inc., Jacksonville, Florida (HTC71124DW004); Farrell Lines Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (HTC71124DW005); Federated Maritime LLC, Boca Raton, Florida (HTC71124DW006); Foss International Inc., Seattle, Washington (HTC71124DW007); Hapag-Lloyd USA LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (HTC71124DW008); Liberty Global Logistics LLC, Lake Success, New York (HTC71124DW009); Maersk Line Limited, Norfolk, Virginia (HTC71124DW010); Matson Navigation Co. Inc., Oakland, California (HTC71124DW011); National Shipping of America LLC, San Francisco, California (HTC71124DW012); Northcliffe Ocean Shipping & Trading Co. Inc., St. Simons Island, Georgia (HTC71124DW013); Pasha Hawaii Holdings LLC, Honolulu, Hawaii (HTC71124DW014); Patriot Contract Services LLC, Concord, California (HTC71124DW015); Schuyler Line Navigation Co. LLC, Annapolis, Maryland (HTC71124DW016); Sealift Inc. of Delaware, Oyster Bay, New York (HTC71124DW017); SeaTac Marine Services LLC, Seattle, Washington (HTC71124DW018); Superior Maritime Services Inc., Weston, Florida (HTC71124DW019); Tote Maritime Alaska LLC, Tacoma, Washington (HTC71124DW020); Tote Maritime Puerto Rico LLC, Jacksonville, Florida (HTC71124DW021); Trailer Bridge Inc., Jacksonville, Florida (HTC71124DW022); US Ocean LLC, New Orleans, Louisiana (HTC71124DW023); Waterman Transport Inc., Mobile, Alabama (HTC71124DW024); and Young Brothers LTD, Honolulu, Hawaii (HTC71124DW025), have been awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, fixed-price contract with economic-price-adjustment, with an estimated cumulative face value of $750,000,000. This contract is to obtain commercial port operations and related transportation services in locations outside the continental U.S. The contract provides international ocean transportation and intermodal, time definite, port-to-port and door-to-door transportation service using ocean common, or contract carriers offering regularly scheduled commercial service, including shipment of both containerized and breakbulk cargo. The period of performance is from Sept. 1, 2024, to Aug. 31, 2025. Fiscal 2024-2029 working capital funds (Transportation) will be obligated. The US Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
Alpha Marine Services LLC, Cut Off, Louisiana, is awarded a $15,411,030 firm-fixed-price, with reimbursable elements, contract (N3220524C4114) for time charter of one Jones Act-compliant U.S. flag vessel to support general purpose ocean towing, salvage, and rescue operations in coastal and deep ocean areas, including navy unique deep submergence rescue operations. This contract includes a 12-month base period with two one-year option periods which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $47,634,325. The contract will be performed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with expectation of additional worldwide possibilities, and it is expected to be completed, if all options are exercised, by July 2027. Fiscal 2024 working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $15,411,030 are obligated and will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the System Award Management website and one offer was received. Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220524C4114).