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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Riper_USMC.jpgLt. Gen. Paul Van RiperRed, commanded by retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper, adopted an asymmetric strategy, in particular, simulating using old methods to evade Blue's sophisticated electronic surveillance network. Van Riper simulated using motorcycle messengers to transmit orders to front-line troops and World-War-II-style light signals to launch airplanes without radio communications in the model.

Red received an ultimatum from Blue, essentially a surrender document, demanding a response within 24 hours. Thus warned of Blue's approach, Red used a fleet of small boats to determine the position of Blue's fleet by the second day of the exercise. In a preemptive strike, Red launched a massive salvo of cruise missiles that overwhelmed the Blue forces' electronic sensors and destroyed sixteen warships: one aircraft carrier, ten cruisers and five of Blue's six amphibious ships. An equivalent success in a real conflict would have resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 service personnel. Soon after the cruise missile offensive, another significant portion of Blue's navy was "sunk" by an armada of small Red boats, which carried out both conventional and suicide attacks that capitalized on Blue's inability to detect them as well as expected.

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The message appeared in English on Emanuel Fabian’s phone.
“You have 90 minutes left to update the lie,” said a WhatsApp message reviewed by The Washington Post. “If you do this — you solve in a minute the most serious problem you have caused yourself in life. And you won’t remember me anymore in a week.”

Five days earlier, Fabian, a 28-year-old war correspondent at the Times of Israel newspaper, had published a short blog post reporting that an Iranian missile had struck an open area outside a Jerusalem suburb, harming no one.

Until he began to receive messages that threatened his life and family, Fabian didn’t know his brief report had triggered a dispute over bets on the prediction market Polymarket on whether an Iranian missile would strike Israel on March 10.

For those with money down, millions of dollars were potentially riding on his blog post. Fabian was spooked enough by the threats to at least entertain the idea of revising his published reporting, he told The Post in a phone interview Monday. That could score a win for Polymarket users who had bet against a missile strike occurring that day — and at least one had offered to send Fabian a share of the profits.
Instead, he stood by his post, reported the threats to the police and wrote an article for the Times of Israel chronicling the harrowing experience. Fabian said he decided to publicize the story in the hope that “anyone who’s ever thinking about threatening a journalist will maybe think twice.”

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USS Gerald R. Ford Headed to Souda Bay for Repairs After Fire

Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is preparing to leave the Red Sea to undergo repairs at the U.S. Navy base on Crete after a fire last week required several hours of damage control efforts, USNI News has learned.

Ford will travel to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay for more than a week of pierside repairs, a senior U.S. official confirmed to USNI News on Tuesday. The official confirmed a report in a local Greek news outlet that said Ford is returning to Crete.

The March 12 fire, which occurred in the aft laundry facility, resulted in a major damage control response that displaced sailors across the carrier and disrupted operations throughout the ship, the source confirmed to USNI News.

One sailor was medically evacuated from the carrier after being injured in the damage control effort and is in stable condition, while two others were treated for lacerations, another official told USNI News. More than 200 sailors were treated for smoke inhalation and returned to duty, two sources familiar with the fire response told USNI News.

“Ship’s force is inspecting and overhauling affected spaces, and the cause of the fire is under investigation,” a spokesperson for U.S. 5th Fleet told USNI News in a statement. “The ship continues to operate in the Red Sea, accomplishing U.S. Central Command tasking in support of Operation Epic Fury.”

The smoke damage extended to the berthing, requiring the Navy to take 1,000 mattresses off the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) in Norfolk, Va., over the weekend to send to Ford, USNI News understands. The Navy has also collected almost 2,000 sweatsuits and other clothing items to distribute to the crew because many sailors are unable to clean their clothes with most of the laundry services out of commission, a source confirmed to USNI News.

“Due to the fire, several berthing spaces and subsequently, more than 100 racks (beds) were lost,” a Pentagon spokesperson told USNI News in a statement. “An immediate plan to acquire replacement cots has already been established. The resiliency and mental grit of our Sailors has enabled USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) to support ongoing operations.”

Initial communications about the fire suggested that Ford would need depot-level repairs, USNI News understands.……

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