Posted on 08/18/2006 6:01:31 AM PDT by Brilliant
TAMPA, Fla. - Retired admiral and U.S. Senate candidate LeRoy Collins, Jr. called the recent planned terrorist attacks against U.S. bound airliners from Europe an ominous threat we must take seriously and not ignore. Collins' remarks followed exposure of the coordinated plot to take down several commercial aircraft departing the United Kingdom, and the arrest of 21 suspects in London.
"Americans cannot deny there are people in the world who despise our freedoms and beliefs, and there are those among us who want to kill innocent civilians to advance their cause. The threat is real. These people are still living in the seventh century. They are not civilized, and they will not negotiate in a rational way. They are dedicated terrorists and must be dealt with as such," Collins said.
"I support the administration and our government's efforts to ensure the traveling public remains safe. If given the privilege and honor to represent Florida in the United States Senate, I will apply my background in the United States military to ensure our country is safe. My number one priority will be to immediately enact legislation securing U.S. borders. Al-Qaeda knows our borders are the weak link in preventing further destruction by those who seek to do us harm. We cannot and should not wait until another fatal incident occurs before addressing this distressing national weakness, which is still with us five years following 9/11/01," Collins added.
LeRoy Collins, Jr. in brief: Collins is a fifth-generation Floridian from a family dedicated to public service. As a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Collins served in the Navy and Navy Reserve (submarines) for 34 years, retiring as a two-star admiral. His civilian careers have been in the high-tech financial services and real estate industries and have spanned 36 years. He has been endorsed by former Attorney General and Secretary of State Jim Smith and former Comptroller Bob Milligan. He recently made news statewide when he asked Katherine Harris to drop out of the race.
That leaves Leroy Collins. I like what I see so far.
Research bump
How can we get McBride to exit the race & throw his support to Collins? It would help him more in future runs for office as opposed to losing to Harris.
ping
LOL! our pings collided!
I agree, but I don't think he's going to do it. Just get your friends to vote for Collins and do what you can to support him.
I think Collins has the advantage that he is more likely to draw voters from Harris than McBride is. McBride is too liberal.
"That leaves Leroy Collins. I like what I see so far."
I like his library. ;-) Sorry, I just can't get the library image out of my mind.
(the Tallahassee public library system is the Leroy Collins Library.)
That Leroy Collins was his father. His father was the Governor of Florida.
Not to highjack the thread, but can anyone confirm McBride marched in the "immigrant rally" in Orlando a couple months ago? (on the day of the immigrant boycott.)
I know very little about the Admiral (or his father) but he is looking like the best choice by default. Given his age, realistically he would most likely be a one-termer; maybe the GOP will have better luck recruiting in 6 years.
Collins has promised to be a one-termer.
I think McBride has too much baggage. He's a trial lawyer. He does handle some immigration cases. I am not sure if he marched with the illegals, but he's not going to win with that baggage.
He may have served in the active Navy (submarines) but could not have served in the Navy Reserve (submarines) as there are NO Navy Reserve submarines (too dangerous for weekend warriors to operate).
Promoting Opportunity through Security
With her swearing in on January 7, 2003, as U.S. Representative for the 13th District of Florida, Katherine Harris opened the newest chapter in her distinguished career of public service to her native state. With key appointments to the House Financial Services Committee, the Homeland Security Committee and the International Relations Committee, Rep. Harris is continuing her work on behalf of Florida with a strong focus on economic and national security issues. The diligence and determination she has shown in Washington is no surprise to the Floridians who elected her Florida state senator, as well as to a term as Florida’s 23rd and last elected secretary of state. Rep. Harris helped shepherd Florida toward its future as an international leader in economic and foreign affairs, while serving as steward over its past through advocacy on behalf of the state’s libraries, historic preservation and the arts.
Acting upon her commitment to expand quality, affordable housing opportunities for low income Americans, Rep. Harris became a member of the Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. One of her first bills was the American Dream Downpayment Act, an innovative plan to help tens of thousands of low-income families and individuals to achieve the American dream of homeownership. Signed into law by President Bush in December 2003, this program will provide a means for Americans to build not only wealth, but also a brighter future for their families.
As a member of the International Relations Committee, Rep. Harris’ commitment to trade and national security issues is unparalleled. From Colombian narco-terrorism to comprehensive reform of foreign aid funding, Rep. Harris has brought a new vision to foreign relations. The first bill Rep. Harris co-sponsored in Congress demonstrated her concern for the men and women who provide and protect our cherished freedoms. Mindful of representing a district with one of the largest veterans populations, she sought the repeal of a century-old federal law that forces military retirees with service-connected disabilities to forgo a portion of their retirement benefits in order to continue receiving their disability compensation.
Dedicated to serving the veterans in life and death, Rep. Harris’ unwillingness to take “no” for an answer led to the construction of a much-needed new national cemetery in the Sarasota region. In recognition of her achievements during her first term in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Harris has received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Spirit of Enterprise award, the Military Order of the World Wars’ Silver Patrick Henry Medallion for patriotic achievement, and the Jewish & Family Service of Sarasota-Manatee, Inc.’s Philanthropy Award. Rep. Harris has also been named to the Southern Economic Development Council’s Honor Roll of Legislative Achievement in Economic Development.
During her term in the Florida state senate, Rep. Harris passed over one hundred bills, including an economic development package that helped fuel Florida’s dramatic rise from 42nd place to 1st place in the nation as a state to start a new business or grow an existing business; a significant increase in teacher salaries; and stiffened penalties for white collar crime and for crimes committed against the elderly. Cognizant of the tremendous economic benefits trade could bring to Floridians, Rep. Harris laid the strong foundation for Florida’s preeminent campaign to win the Permanent Secretariat for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), as well as working toward the unification of the Gulf region through the enhancement of investment, trade and tourism and cultural exchanges.
Rather than taking cover in the aftermath of the 2000 election controversy, Rep. Harris took the lead in the push for comprehensive election reform. In 2001, she testified before the U.S. House Administration Committee and proposed legislation that became the blueprint for Florida’s nationally acclaimed Election Reform Act. In 2002, as the reform movement waned in many states, she successfully proposed and achieved passage of historic civil rights legislation in Florida that forcefully addresses the exclusion of persons with disabilities from full and equal participation in the electoral process.
A former IBM marketing executive and vice president of a commercial real estate firm, Rep. Harris earned a Master’s Degree from Harvard University with a specialization in international trade and negotiations, and a Bachelor’s Degree in history from Agnes Scott College. She studied abroad at the University of Madrid and at L’Abri outside Geneva, Switzerland. Her commitment to public service has earned Rep. Harris numerous awards, including the Mel Fisher Award for International Trade Advocacy; the Florida Economic Development Council Legislator of the Year Award; the Florida United Business Association Outstanding Legislator Award; the Florida Arts Advocacy Award, the Sarasota Humanitarian of the Year Award and the Sarasota Statesman of the Year Award. Rep. Harris was born in Key West, Florida. She resides in Sarasota with her husband, Anders Ebbeson, and his 21-year-old daughter, Louise.
"(too dangerous for weekend warriors to operate)."
I know in many jobs in the military the reserve and guard components have been superior to their active duty counter parts (in the past at least), in jobs like pilots, armor, medical etc., in some jobs like civil affairs just about everybody is National Guard.
In the 80s I read about a National Guard armor unit, it explained how the crew members had served in the same units, for the same time, as the young men currently on active duty, but that the guard now had 5 or ten years or more with their current guard team, therefore blowing away the young active duty guys in exercises.
In the Air National Guard pilots would do their 4 or 6 years active and then with another 15 years in the guard, defeat their younger, less experienced active duty competition.
The problem with reserve subs would be how to deploy and maintain a sub for 2 day exercises and 2 weeks in the summer.
Among the most difficult units to keep at a level with the active duty is Infantry, Navy Seals, Special Forces and such, it takes a lot of commitment by it's members.
The real problem is that any reserve force of submarines would be nuclear powered ones... In my day aboard the boats (1960s-70s) we constantly drilled on nuclear safety procedures so I cannot envision a reserve submarine where, for one weekend out of a month, Sailors would be operating nuclear power plants. The old diesel boats, too, were accidents waiting to happen. All it would take is one false reading of the ballast control panel "green board" and a tragedy would occur (that's essentially what happened to the old Squalus in the late 1930s and perhaps the Scorpion in the 1960s). The environment that submarines operate in, like the environment that airplanes operate in, is extremely unforgiving.
"Recently, the nation celebrated the dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. to honor the 18.2 million men and women who served in uniform during that conflict. Members of the Guard and Reserve represented 80 percent of this total, or 14.5 million personnel. In the Navy, the citizen-sailor accounted for 90 percent of the crews who sailed in the greatest armada of recent times.
In some submarines, the crew and wardroom were composed entirely of reservists, with the exception of the commanding officer who was most often a Naval Academy graduate."
Transforming the Force During the Cold War
From 1946 to 1972, Navy Reservists drilled in 26 cities on 44 diesel boats. Submarines like the USS Silversides (SS-236) in Chicago; the USS Tambor (SS-198) in Detroit; and the USS Carp (SS-338) in Boston served as training platforms on which Sailors prepared themselves for active service in the event that a global war heated up. For the most part, their training utilized surplus equipment and platforms from the active-duty fleet. With the shift to nuclear-powered submarines and a transition away from reserve units focused on platforms and hardware, the program gradually morphed into the submarine reserve we know today. Although this transition did not take place overnight, the submarine reserve became increasingly focused on its own reserve obligations and infrastructure, and by late in the Cold War, it had become fairly independent of the active-duty component and not truly aligned with the mission or structure of the latter.
In the aftermath of the Cold War, the senior leadership of the submarine reserve realized that while a structure based on mass mobilization may have been appropriate for a traditional wartime scenario, it was inadequate for the fluid nature of the coming era and its potential short-term demands. As RDML Jay DeLoach remarked, “We could no longer afford to think that mustering at the local reserve center to conduct General Military Training (GMT) was enough. Likewise, having two separate entities that didn’t speak the same language wouldn’t work. We began to realize that the submarine reserve needed to be relevant to current operations in the fleet on a day-to-day basis.”
Yep, the old diesel boat reserve fleet was there, but it was mostly on paper due to the danger I illustrated. There were some instances of wet weekends but the boats rarely put to sea. Even the active duty types in the 1970s were hard put to go to sea. I remember an old diddy about a SUBRON in New London (composed of USS Harder, USS Darter, USS Trigger, and USS Trout). It went thusly:
Harder, Darter, Trigger, Trout
Always homebound, never out!
I would encourage all active duty submarine personnel that are not going to make it a career, to seek a slot in the Naval Reserve Submarine force when they get out.
Actually I encourage all veterans that were a notch above, that had a greater interest in their job than their fellow soldier, yet chose to leave the service, join the Guard or Reserves.
Harris also supports the WOT and everything in the article.
Collins is a joke and won't even make it past 5% in the primary. Plus, he's 72 years old.
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