The nonchalant attitude many are taking to the physical condition of the public facing part of our Navy is, in a word, disgraceful.
I’m not quite sure when our culture decided that doing less with worse was acceptable – where for your wants NOW, you will saddle future leaders who follow you with the bondo, duct tape, and bailing wire remediation you did to get by – but here we are.
Gina Harkins at military.com brought us back to the Rusty Girls of Summer story, with some comments that read almost like parody, but are not.
We clearly have a mindset problem. A temporary lowering of acceptable standard has become a norm. Even at the most senior levels, we have become scope-locked;
The flag officer who oversees maintenance on the Navy’s ships and submarines is hitting back against the idea that corrosion on warships is leading to big repair bills.
…
… Vice Adm. Thomas Moore, head of Naval Sea Systems Command, said there has been no effect on maintenance.“I think some of this is a little like, ‘Hey, the Packers were a great football team in the ’60s,” Moore told reporters at the Pentagon last week. “Corrosion has always been one of the major drivers for maintenance for us.”
I’m sorry VADM Moore – but that is a tired and lame excuse. That is what it is. Also, the last part of that pull-quote – what does that even mean?
The latest examples from this summer, the USS Gravely (DDG 107) and USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) were not do-or-die deployments. Deploying those ships in that physical condition – superficial or not – was a choice. Eventually, the national shame got so bad, that “someone” decided in the middle of deployment to finally slap some paint on them.
The issue here isn’t a short-term bill or a bottom-line sum on one tab on a spreadsheet. It is time for everyone to get their head out of the spreadsheet and do what we expect our General Officers, Flag Officers and senior civilian leaders to do – think at the strategic level.
What is one of the primary purposes of a peacetime navy when it is forward deployed? Presence and representing the people and nation of the United States of America. It doesn’t take a PhD in international relations to tell you that if your navy looks like it is poor, lazy, and uncaring – then that is the impression people will have of the nation it serves.
How bad is our reputation becoming? Here are the models people are making of our destroyers.
Is that bad enough? Here’s three more shots.
It should not be acceptable to the American taxpayers who paid for these ships or borrowed money from their children to pay for them – or their elected Representatives of the people – that this is how their Navy takes care of their ships.
“Ship – Shipmate – Self.”
If that is what we accept for our ships, what are we doing to our Shipmates – much less ourselves?
At a time where our national resolve is being tested in Europe – is this the image we want to project to our most critical partner on the Continent – and all the other partner nations’ navies in port as well? In case we forgot – here is the Fort McHenry this summer in Kiel.
Where is the sense of stewardship? The world’s largest Navy groaning under the largest budgets it has ever seen, and yet;
Moore wouldn’t comment on observations of ships looking rusty more often. But when it comes to maintenance, he said there’s no data to support that it’s causing widespread problems.
James Geurts, assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition, agreed.
“I don’t assess that as being the thing that’s driving maintenance times and delays,” he said.
OK senior uniformed and civilian leadership – you are not a field grade officer or GS-12 – get out of your lane and see the big picture.
We supplied the flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1. Is this a problem?
Would we have the honor guard welcoming foreign leaders at the White House wearing torn uniforms, with scraggly hair, unbathed for three days and sporting a partially shaved face?
Of course not. Would looking like that have any effect on their mission of standing watch? In a very narrow, scoped view, no. Would it cost more to have them shave, get serviceable uniforms and take a hot shower more than once a week? Yes.
Why do you demand that then?
One last note – pride in ship and service has a lot to do with morale and retention. Would you expect anyone to point to pictures like these and proudly say, “I served on that ship, wouldn’t you want to?”
Our ships are not coming back from a bolt-out-of-the-blue to fight a battle in the South Atlantic. These are peace-time, regular deployments.
This is not a matter of time or money. This is a matter of mindset and priorities.
