Zach Ota

“If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.”

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

@mikeblack114.bsky.social is this how it works?

Failure Bias in Air Advisory Missions Discover how the U.S. Air Force’s failure bias has shaped decades of decision-making—and why successful air advisory missions deserve renewed attention.

Air Advisors are a frequent target in an Air Force that undervalues activities that are hard to quantify.

What better way to advance the idea of burden sharing than to build professional, interoperable, and reliable allies and partners?

irregularwarfare.org/articles/fai...

A regular reminder to keep standing up to authoritarians 🇵🇭

You can say that again.

I thought we were supposed to be reducing administrative training requirements?

Lee Marvin as an officer in the Dirty Dozen

That must be why he always looked so sharp!

“The Framers were adamant that Congress, as the representatives of the people, control America’s public funds.”

history.house.gov/Institution/...

Sorry to hear that, dude. Not sure exactly part of the Gov you’ll be in but hope there are some resources you can tap into to help while this is all sorted.

Please still be cautious on your financial planning. There are a lot of legal questions remaining about military pay during the shutdown and even if those are resolved, the sheer processing time necessary may mean that we don’t get our paychecks on time.

Birth of a Navy | Naval History - October 2025, Volume 39, Number 5 October 1775: The Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, after much deliberation, authorizes the creation of a critical element for the Revolutionary struggle: a fighting fleet.

October 1775: The Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, after much deliberation, authorizes the creation of a critical element for the Revolutionary struggle: a fighting fleet. usni.org/magazines/n...

At the old “I’m a casualty” trick in an exercise…

Visual? Radar?

WWII U.S. Navy ice cream barge

Hooyah, Navy, on defending our Constitution for 250 years!

Please accept this ice cream barge as a token of gratitude and esprit de corps from your favorite shipmates.

YouTube video by ConnieMacks The Great Santini - the soup incident

On the most solemn occasion of the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of the United States Navy, I’d like to offer a hearty ‘Happy Birthday’ to all squids and rust-pickers.

May you have another 250 glorious years, every one of them accompanied by the USMC.

youtu.be/5betKv46GB4?...

Good find!

Haven’t read that one before - thanks for the material!

Roy Matsumoto

Legend

www.army.mil/article-amp/...

1921 The U.S. convinces Japan to cease issuing passports to prospective brides, stopping Picture Bride immigration. Fifty-eight Japanese immigrant laborers in Turlock, California, are forcibly removed and warned never to return. 1922 The Cable Act passes, further restricting citizenship by marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court (Ozawa v. U.S.) rejects, without dissent, naturalization for Japanese immigrants based on the argument that Japanese, like other Asians, can never assimilate with white Americans. The court had previously (in 1889 and 1893) denied naturalization for Chinese immigrants. 1924 The U.S. Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1924 (Asian Exclusion Act), which prohibits further immigration from Japan.

Unfortunately it seems like we have to work through one of those every century or so.

Women's Army Corps A contingent of 51 Japanese American women of the Women's Army Corp (WACs) reported to Fort Shelling in November 1944 to begin their schooling in the Japanese language. There were 47 Nisi, three Caucasians, and one Chinese American Although they were taught the same curriculum as the men, they were not trained as interpreters or interrogators but in written language to qualify as translators During World War Il and in the immediate past war period, over 300 Nisei WACs served in the Allied Occupation of Japan and eventually as civilian translators and support staff under General Douglas MacArthur's General Headquarters

I’ll add that more than 300 Americans of the Women’s Army Corps also served as translators and helped transform post-war Japanese society.

Hard to say - unfortunately the jersey didn’t have a label yet. This was the best picture I took of it.

Roy Matsumoto, an inductee in the Ranger Hall of Fame, was a member of the MIS where he taught white officers Japanese before he joined Merrill’s Marauders.

The Pacific War was won with the indispensable contributions of Japanese Americans

THE SECRET SCHOOL An Experiment in the Presidio As war between the United States and Japan seemed inevitable, a few members of the War Department foresaw the need for qualified Japanese interpreters. Yet the United States had no formal foreign language or combat intelligence training programs. The War Department grudgingly budgeted $2,000 to start the Fourth Army Intelligence School at the Presidio in San Francisco. School recruiters were dismayed to find that most of the 3,700 Nisei serving in the military were "more American than Japanese" and only about 10% qualified as candidates. With limited means, the school opened on November 1,1941 in an abandoned airplane hangar, using scavenged furnishings and curriculum materials mimeographed from scarce textbooks. "They told me to go down to... Crissy Field, and there is a building there with a galvanized roof. So I went there and see all these Japanese fellas like me...I said, .Why are they pulling all these Japanese together?"" —ISUENO GARY KADANI The first class of sixty students (58 Nisei and 2 Caucasians) lived and attended school in one building, receiving ten hours of intense training a day. At first, coursework included translation, dictation, conversation, civil and military interpretation, geography, interrogation techniques, and specialized military vocabulary. After America entered the war, the school's curriculum accelerated and intensified. Military emphasis replaced general Japanese vocabulary and knowledge.

If you haven’t heard of the Military Intelligence Service, they were Americans who used their language skills to support Allied operations at Guadalcanal, Bougainville, the Philippines, Burma, Okinawa, and elsewhere.

They eventually facilitated the transformation of Japanese government itself.

What can you share with us? (who, what, when where) - Were you in an American concentration camp during World War II? - Did you have family that was incarcerated? - Do you recognize any of the unidentified people, places, or things in these photos? Please share this information using these forms. CONTESTED HISTORIES

One of the coolest parts of the museum was a visiting exhibit that allowed you to contribute to the history of those who were wrongfully incarcerated.

Honoring the legacy of those who served in the Military Intelligence Service.

If you look closely, you can see the names of our family members who served in the Military Intelligence Service during WWII.

The Military Intelligence Service History Learning Center of the National Japanese American Historical Society and National Park Service. https://maps.app.goo.gl/7yYTxTPLkiBTGLsSA?g_st=ipc

On the positive side of there being no fleet at Fleet Week, I got to learn more about my family’s military service at the Presidio’s new Military Intelligence Service History Learning Center.

From Canada, with love 🍁 ♥️

a man with glasses and a mustache is sitting in a chair and talking to a woman that he has been seeing . Alt: a man with glasses and a mustache is sitting in a chair and talking to a woman that he has been seeing .

The future of AI:

Way to go!