and so for the first few i months through the middle of 1861 through early 1862 the federal navy the union navy was buying up every ship it could find not just building lots of new warships, but purchasing every civilian ship they could put a gun on and using it on the blockade. and the thinking was well, we don't need to blockade the coast, we just need lots of ships. we don't need lots of warships because they're not going to be going into combat a lot. and that's probably right. so the union navy expanded during the course of the war from maybe 40 or 50 ships on active service to, i think, over 600. and the vast majority of those were on the blockade around southern ports. the blockade became much more effective as the war went on because, simply because the navy, the union navy expanded so much at the very beginning of the war. the first ship appeared on the blockade off of galveston was the uss south carolina appeared off galveston in july of 1861 and it was just one ship. to blockade not just galveston but the entire texas coast. but, of course more came after that and it expanded. and by

the blood has streamed down his face. this led to protests around campuses. >>> navy federal credit union plans to bring six hub new jobs to fairfax, virginia. >> the navy federal credit union announces the expansion yesterday. >> maryland is back in the big dance for the first time in five years and their fans have shown up in columbus, ohio. where the fourth seeded terps show up. >> they play champs. valparaiso, and a team historically for pulling upsets. >> howard. >> got a report out of dam miss cuss, maryland maryland -- damascus, maryland and the main roads are fine. >> three and six and we won't see much here in d.c. and that that transition zone. we have the storm tapering off. and much nicer tomorrow. chance of a shower later monday. larksry. >> we have a crash on dc 295. this is east capital street. and remember, we have the closure on the bw parkway between maryland 202 and route 50. take 50 west bounds in order to get passed the mess. >> this is ahead. talk about the weaknesses in a case. >>> we have a sleep specialist to tell you what it does for your pension actuality. >> we will have problems with that. >> larry and i will be back in 25 minutes w

navy federal credit union. pink so she's a princess. you got a problem with that? oorah oorah open to the armed forces and their families for over 80 years. navy federal credit union. vago:: nato cducted 175 exerciseses last year. 74 to reassure member nations. this year, 258 exercises are planned, 152 of them to reassure allies. colonel darren denny plans those activities. we met with him in norfolk virginia. i asd him how the small exercises connect to midsize once and common eight in the tried and juncture 15 involving more than -- trident juncture 15, involving more than 30,000 forces. colonel denny: we are not fully out of afghanistan. there are still people doing their mission. one ofof the key drivers of what we wanted to get to was the idea of interoperability. this was a thing that was developed through, literally a decade of combat operations, to build something like that and not maintatain a coming out of afghanistan would be a real tragedy for the alliance. not only for the alliance, but for the partners who have been there with the u.s. and nato and all the forces that have contributed there. one of the keys coming out was to try to find as many ways to connect nations as we could through exercises and training. honestly in nato that is one of the time venues to do that. if you look across the landscape every day, there are hundreds of exercises conducted by the 20 nations in nato. and more than that if you look at partners. some are the very low tactical company-type levels, all the way to the tried and juncture -- tri dent juncture series of 30,000. it is building on interoperability. if there is a the of what we try to do in nato, it is the interoperability piece. not to lose command-and-control interoperability all the way from the high-end staff to individual young privates working together. that is the key. the smaller exercises contribute to that by building the tactical interoperability as we build the nato command structure exercises for the nato command structure, for other elements. now we are building staff capacities at larger level. those come into play, because obviously small tactical events make up the larger operation or strategic events. so that's how they connect. vago: talk to us a little about how you are grading these exercises. obviously that so you measure progress you build metrics. you have 28 nations. everyone has slightly different standards. how are you gauging the progress on these exercises to come back with a list, here's how you can do better next time around? colonel denny: we work closely with mans on this. they established the certification for various nato organizations. we talked about the tactical-level exercises. those may be evaluated depending on if somebody is contribute into the nato reresponse force or something like that. but as we go higher, to the nato command structure, joint force command, single service command those evaluations become more complex. you are taking a very rong look at what type of capacity these organizations have. the evaluations themselves are very much to take a look at specific issues. i have heard many times, it is just an automatic pass. if you look at evaluations just being a check you passed, that could be perceived as being true. but if you look at the training -- we have a long way to go on that. some nations figured it out before others. is not about certification. it is about the you got there the training piece. if everybody passes, when you have a limited command structure that may be true, that you are certified,. but at the sole -- same time there is remediation built behind that. you have to address shortcomings. vago: exactly. you don't want to become one of those exercises, to use a naval parlance gundecking, where you are signing up on things with no training value. colonel denny: everybody has realized that the nato exercises, trident all the way to national exercises there is extreme training value out of these. if you focus on the certification, unit the fact that they were months of certification -- training that contributed interoperability. you focus on the grade at the end, the command is certified for a certain type of requirement. vago: how do o you make sure that the training exercises are really not only fulfilling, but are achieving this wealth of experience to get folks up to speed? ultimately, you want this investment of time to be valuable. colonel denny: we learned several things. we try to ensure that if we are focusing on tactical training, that is what the exercise is about. we have, particularly in the u.s. and other nations we experiment with trying to combine the strategic level all the way down to a tactical level . though we try to find ways to do that in staff planning, we tried to ensure that tactical training is what the training is focused on. if we are focused on staff training, we focus on cpx type things. vago: command post exercises. colonel denny: so we don't have troops sitting on the ground waiting for a decision by a staff that is not fully trained. we have two very definitive parts. part one, a computer-assisted exercise or command post exercise training the staff. then a live fire maneuver on the ground, jets in the air, ships at sea. that's about the troops the forces that are there not about the decision-making cycle from the staffs. we try to ensure that the focus is correct that our objectives match what we want to achieve so we are not trying to combine too many things. vago: thanks very much. on this week's money minute, sponsored by navyal credit union. should i chohoosehe 15-year or 30-your mortgage? >> the difference between a 15-year or 30-year loan might seem like simple math. they have higher monthly payments, but you pay less in interest. it is s more than just numbers.. if you are ting to decide between a 15-year and 30-year mortgage, consider this. the larger monthly payments of a 15-year mortgage require you to budget differently, even live differently. it is important to have a substantial savings account in place to mitigatate risk. if you rely on rtgage intest as a tax deducti a 15-year may decrease your right of if you are in higher income bracket, self-employed, or an independent contractor, you might benefit from a longer mortgage. a 15ear mortgage might be better if you are downsizing especially if you u apply the money you save to the mortgage payment. you can apply extra savings to yourur retirement. vago: we will see you n next week. if you have vago: to see how seriouslyy russia's actions have ratt

navy federal credit union. pink so she's a princess. you got a problem with that? oorah oorah open to the armed forces and their families for over 80 years. navyederal credit union. ♪ ♪ vago: repubublican hawks want to boost defense spending the trouble is, spendincaps are the e law of ththe sution? double the $51 billion supplental wartime request. to tell us if the republicans can succeed in raraising defense spending is mckenzie egelandnd john bennett. welcome back to the show. john what a the repubcans trying to do, , and why? john: to tnd, publan leadadershipip are trying to buy the dense votes. 70 hse republicans -- maybe more they are tryrying to give some more defense spending in the war budget, not in the base budget. in r return, they want the hks to go to t the floor next week and votete for the b budget resolution and they need thr votes to pass i vago: oerwi, the hawks have made it clear, we will d derail the whole train. mckenz: this is about getting to unwinding. the problem is, ts is a play actionon fake for money. that is when to be the ceiling. that is not how much money is going to getpproiated. the dedefense hawks are going

navy federal credit union. pink so she's a princess. you got a problem with that? oorah oorah open to the armed forces and their families for over 80 years. navyederal credit union. vago: we are back with our roundtable. todd you have something you want to finish a bunch on's point. >> the reason the dod is not having more success is because they are confusing the issue. if you look at their language -- i know this may seem like semantics, but they keep using the word sequester interchangeably with budget caps. they're trying to communicate to people what the impact would be of living within the bca budget caps, but they keep calling it the sequester. when they actually talk about a sequester, and automatic cutting of funds, they aren't clearly delineating which they are talking about. it has thoroughly confuse the debate on capitol hill and dod has lost credibility because of it. vago: let me take you to the question of strategy. lauren, you mentned how iran is becoming an ally in this. obviously once we took sadm hussein out of the eququation, iran's influence in their surgeged red -- there surged. iranan was one of f the first people in ira

navy federal credit union. pink so she's a princess. you got a problem with that? oorah oorah open to the armed forces and their families for over 80 years. navy federal credit union. >> we are back with the commmmandant of e united states coast guard. i want to starart off with infrastructuture quickly. you talked about the state of shore infrastructure that the coast guard has. been have about -- you have about $40 billion available. how you addrs the challenge given these facilities are critical for you to be sure ships and aircraft on? >> with the $1 biion acquisition budget, $40 million is all i can afford. a $1 billion acquisition budget does not adequately address the $1.4 billion backlog we have right now. >> how much money do you think you would need to address it? on an annualized basis, how much would yoneed? >> i would put a floor at $1.5 billion because that is where we were seral years ago. that allowed us to make some inroads. our onlyelief of late is rricane sandy. we used disaster relief funding to f fix some of our infrastructure but not on the coast guard widescale. >> which is stunning. let me take you toto the cyber strategy. when you do unveil it, we would lo to ve somebody come on it. my is the strategy so important -- why is the strategy so important? what are some the features? >> for the coast guard, the first one is about protecting our network. the next step is how we protect the networks of the industry will regulate -- we regulate. we do that with fences and cameras. right now, it is the invisible threat, cyber. we saw a work slowdown on the coast. it will take five or six weeks for the ports to catch up. that was a man-made effort. with this was a cyberattack? 90% of the activity is automated. a cyberattack woululd hamstring our economy. >> the arctic c council will meet next month in washington. admiral papp is the chair of that. what does the united states hope to accomplish? >> we want to m move the ballll forward. i want to create an arctic coast guarform that addresses the most pressing challenges in the arctic. environmental, safetof life, weare of the native tribes that have lived there for more than a millennium, and not militarize the arctic. these are coast guauard equities,s, not military equities. establishing a coast g guard for a coast guard for would allow us to rht size our needs and objectives in the arctic region. >> let me ask you. you mentioned militarization. one of the key r roles you play is as a door opener as the national force. combatant commanders often want a coast guard cutterer to perform all sosorts of missions. you have said as mh as you want to be part ofhat, he gets tougher for you to have a cutter inapan even if the japanese like it. what are the hard conversations you are having to have with commanders to say the navy has fewer frigates, i have to pick up some of that slack? what are some conversations you are having with the milita leadership? >> when we look at the global foforest management plan we put all the threats around the globe on the table. i look at my authorities and where they a are the most unique least redundant to address some of those thrts. then i look at the opportunity cost. right now, , the opportunity cost of abandoning the western hemisphere at a point in time where the violent crime criminal organizations, that is eir safe haven. th will proliferate if we don't pay close attention to it. i ne to stay focused their. our dod mustst rebalance on a global scale given the maitude of the global threats at hand. >> we have less th a minute. i know t this is a top priority for you, combating sexuall assault in the coast guard. there were 154 incidents -- 254 incidents. you said that is 254 too many. what are you doing to stop the scored? >> this is a 24/7 sense of vigilance. i admi

navy federal credit union. pink so she's a princess. you got a problem with that? oorah oorah open to the armed forces and their families for over 80 years. navy federal credit union. vago: over the past several years, russia has increasingly threaten neighbors with nuclear weons. russia said it would target denmark if copenhagen joined nato's missile defense program. i asked exander verershbowow denmark should respond to rising nuclear rhetoric. ambassador vershbow: it is clelear the russians are flnting their nuclear capability, holding nuclear exercises and talking about their nuclear capabilities as part of their messaging. and maybe this is just rhetoric, but it is very irresponsible nonetheless. the threats against the danes which is the latest example of this -- this is not new. they me similar threats against romania and poland, which wille hosting missile-defense facilities as well. we are simply not going to be swayed in any way by t this. first of all, missile-defense is defensive. it does not threaten russia. it does not threaten their strategic deteence because of the lotion of our systems. we just have to keep countering this outrageous rhetoric wit the facts and make clear we are ing toto continue to do what we need to defend oursees. missile-defense is about iran and other third country threats not russia. as far as what we need to do with nuclear policy and posture allies think we still have an effective posture which includes some numbers which we don't account for, tactical nuclear weapons in europe. and of course, we are b backeup by the u.s. s strategic arsenal plus the u.k. nuclear force andnd the french. not integrated, but they have nuclear weapons. posture is effective. but we are reviewing the implications of this increased russian attention to nuclear weapons as to whether we need to step up exercises and take other steps to make sure that there is no doubt about the effectiveness of our deterrent. vago: do -- does nato -- natoo has made a big pnt to deploy forces to the border states with russia, to the baltics, poland, hungarian romaa, u.s. forceand nato forces. that has been a reassurance exercise that t there are tse who say those forces are not significant enough to deter russisia, that russia has managed quite a bit of mayhem, grabbg the estonian intelligenence officer confiscating lithuanian fishing boats. those of those remain in russian captivity. are those enough h forces, andd are you convinced that is enough of a deterrence to stop moscow from invading a nato member nation? ambassador vershshbow: when you look at the bigger picture, it is enough. we have to keep those under review as the situation develo. the forces the u.s. and allies are rotating to the baltics to poland, o other eastern european countries, are very important not just to reassure the host country, but to deter the e russians and any other aggressor. they are also combined with this enhanced capability to reinforce , a spearheaforce that can bring as much as 5000 troops him within a couple of days, backed up by an expanded nato response forcrce, which will grow to 30,000 troops. they go has more capability than that. when you do the beanount between nato and russia we have significant milittary advantes in just about every area. we are going to have command-and-control, a logistics presence in each country so we can facilitate reinforcements. some of the other threats asymmetrical or hybrid threats do call for other kinds of capabiliti so we can respond really fast, even before wknow for certain what kind of actions are happening, whether it is aggression or just some local provocation. vago: for example secretary-general stoltenberg has discussed ththat. what things are you going to have to put in place? the naturef that combined conventional, military, and other assets -- the little green men -- you could have a crisis on your hands before you probabably recognize a crisis. ambassador vershbow: exactly which means we have to raise the quality and speed of intelligence sharing within nato. it means the countries on the front lines in particular have to assure there is a real-time flow of information not only from external services, watching over the horizon whether the russians are revving up their engines, but what is goining on in theieir own country, in terms of internal security threats suspicious activities, protests that suddenly pop up out of nowhere, attacks on infrastructure, natural disasters -- natural disasters maybe we can handle, but unnatural disasters. we need that to flow into nato. we need the ability to interpret this in real time so that our decision-makers castart dealing with the problem liliterally within days of the first indicators appearing, and then deciding on actions, means we also need a range of actions to take. we are deploying the spearhead force that is one option. we have to be able to do that. but we need smaller scale tions, so we can get there even before the sittion is fully clear. vago: isis isis a threat toto europe, in part because of the fighters going to fight in syria and iraq, as well as the danger of european radicalized europeans, who are going to come back with some of those skills. we saw "charlie hebdo" and other self-radicalized attacks in europe over the past couple of years. talk about the role nato has in that fight, and whher finding isis more broadly might become the next nato mission. ambassador vershbow: we are all quite seized with the mushrooming threat that is fretting across north afra -- spreading across north africa. isis poses a unique set of challenges in many ways perhaps more challenging than al qaeda because of this caliphate mission, erasing borders. we are taking it seriously. where nato will fitit into the response is kind of a worork in progress. the issue of foreign fighters is somethin where we are exchanging intelligence, trying to improve the flow of intelligence. but it is not really nato's responsibility. this is more interernal curity u.s./eu business. where we might get more involved is both being sure we are always ready in case there is direct threat to our territory -- and that could happen on the turkish border. it could evenn happen acss the mediterranean. but i think the bigger role we are looking to play is, , how can we shore up the countries that are still struggling to survive and thstand the threat from isis, to get to the roots of the oblem? and that is assisting them with buililding up their own defense capabilities, their own dense institutions, helping them with strategic munication's encounter messaging -- strategic communications and encounter messaging. the european union can also assist these countries in building up theirr political institutions their economies looking at the different social factors that create this swampmp in which isis can grow. so capacity building is the buzzword, or defense capacity building. that is going to be the biggest role for nato. we do not have a lot of resoces to do this. i hope as we look to the summit in warsaw that nations willl backup this very sensible strategy with sourceces to make it work. vago: in afghanistan, the president of the united states said the united states will keep 10,000 troops through the end of the fighting season this year. nato was a vy important part of the afghanistan m mission. what is going to be the continuing nato role in afghanistan? ambassador vershbow: ihink in lighght of what the u.s. . has decided in tms of the pace of their drawdown, allies will need to take the necessary decicisions to stay in rou lockstep with the u.s. i think there is going to be broad support for this stuff, give the afghans a little bit more time when we are at ful strength, with the hub and spoke footprint we now have, before we drawdown to a kabul-centered approach. looking beyond the current two-year mission, nato, i think is already discussing with the afghans a longer-term partnership that would have continued training and an assistance component to it, as well as possible other forms of capacity building, political engagement. you know, , it may be like the u.s. long-term presence, based in the capital, nonot beyond the wire. buwe think nato hasn't -- has an important investment to protect and an important role e to play. vago: this seminar was an portant calelendar item for the alliance. talk about what you accomplished. much of the meeting was behind closed doors. what are some of the challenges to tackle in the coming months? ambassador vershbow: it has been an opportunity to have cross-fertilization betetween allied officials, both syllable -- civil and military,y, and nongovernmental experts discussing how to respond to hyid warfare, how to ensure we , despite the support grace on defense spending, spend more effectively on new technologies and new ways of doing things that we need to keep an age in the future, ter the russians but also be equipped to deal with -- deter the russians, but also be equipped to deal with isil. vago: for me of our interview go to defennews.com. vago: to cocide with the march madness basketball tournament earlier this month, "military times" asked readers to pick the best military movie ever. editor tony lombardo is joining us for an update. thanks for joining us. tony: thanks for having me. vago: it was 64 movies. who are the elite eight coming over the finish line? tony: we have had hundreds of thousands of votes. "saving private ryan" not doing -- is doing well. "top gun" is doing well, which has some of our grunts confused. how is that happening? the navyontingent, they love the movie. vago: it is still a recruiting tool. aliens, is that still -- tony: "aliens" is out. vago: what are other names at the top? tony: "american sniper" has been strong, but it could be knocked out soon by "black hawk down." we have had hundreds of comments, mostly people yelling at me for not putting certain films on the list. vago: or putting other films on the list. tony: "last samurai" is missing ninjas and machine guns. "saving private ryan" is the only choice. finally, "rules of engagement," the last time --- the first time my team got lit up in iraq was just like that. "from here to eternity," i have gotten so many letters. i thought it was mushy stuf i have to give my readers more credit. vago: how can readers get involved? tony: go to the "military times" website. in april, we will crown a victor. vago: we will have you back to talk about the victors. personal finance expert jeanette mac expense have you know whetether your finances are in good shape