Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Sir
I am no policy weenie but it looks like we are in the worst possible place: don’t know what we want (we need more ASW, nah more expeditionary, nah more and cheaper “hulls”), don’t know how to get there (headcount cuts, search for missions, need more hulls but how do we man them vis a vis headcount cuts?) and don’t have the means to get there if we solve one and two above (shrinking U.S. shipbuilding capability) . This doesn’t seem real good to me.
I only thought I was brain dead, but as I read this, in the context of the times, I’m beginning to believe it. If it’s not me, then somebody is there. We’re going through stuff like a hot knife through soft butter. This is not just The Navy, but all of the branches. Money and people are in short supply. It doesn’t matter how many hulls we have, if we don’t have the people, what use are they? Even if we create an unmanned Navy Vessel Fleet, we’ll still need a cadre of NEW well educated and trained sailors to support this fleet. There are many issues here, with no answers. As we move forward, we must balance expectations from our people and our leaders with many things. We can not just keep going on this same path. One way or another things will CHANGE. These people can’t be constantly redeployed. The Iraqis and our leader need to understand this. I am not saying they would refuse to go. But, at some point, their bodies rebel and just shut down. They would be just worn out. If we think this war is important, the question becomes, What am I doing in this effort? I have no doubt, there are some great stories out there.
Grumpy
If the Dems were smart (which they aren’t), they could crush Bush with this issue.
Time was, Top said, we ain’t going home until we win.
Maybe that is what is needed.
When I went over, they told me I would be home in a year. The last six months, every month, I was worth less to my squad.
Shortimer fever, is bad news when people are trying to kill you.
I knew some who wouldn’t go out, or who were nothing but baggage for the last couple of months.
I’m no sailor, nor in the know, but even if it costs millions per ship, those we already have in mothballs could be fixed enough to be serviceable. Yes, they are older and need more sailors to man them, but the newer ships (that we may never have or have in ten to fifteen years) will take fewer sailors (which is bad if a ship is damaged-I am told).
I don’t think Carriers are the answer, nor the new F-22s, but then I’m not a sailor nor flyboy.
Just an ol’ ex-grunt who knows that if you put millions (billions) into teck, you wind up not having the money left for the ones at the tip of the spear.
Beans and bullets, beat the hell out of a lot of projects.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
This is nuts. Trying to get to HALF of the Reagan Era 600-ship Navy is unaffordable?!?!
I’d be shocked if I didn’t sit there and hear Taylor say about the same thing in ’02 and ’03, and note that we still say we’ll make it up in the outyears.
5 to 7 ships a year, about 30 year service life (some longer, some shorter)…
mebbe about 180 ships.
Huh.
Maybe if the shoes on acquisition would pull their heads out of anal orifices we wouldn’t have 400% budget overruns and ships without mission modules.
My question is to what extent can we stop focusing on numbers (‘cuz 600 ships ain’t never gonna happen) and start looking to quality (if all 300 are operational and pass inspection, would that be enough)?
Then make cheaper ships. Why do they have to do everything under the sun? Look at some of the more stable platforms our allies utilize and copy some of their designs.