Remember, he wants to build a new civilian force that is as well equiped as the military. One way to do that is to cut down what the military has....
Our new civilian force:
Posted on 08/24/2010 7:01:48 AM PDT by ryan71
D-Day I believe cost 20,000 casualties, although that includes Brits and Canadians too. The alarming thing is that the generals at the time considered that to be on the low side of their casualty estimates.
I remember it. In 1979 we had 533 in commission. in 2007 we had 279 and now we have 283. I'm by no means a fan of Jimmy Carter but I was active duty Navy all but the last three months of his term. The Navy was in better shape in many ways than it was when he took office. I credit much of it to the Secretary of The Navy and an ending of some of Rummy's bad ideas which contributed to it.
Just listen a second to why I say this. I enlisted under Ford's final months and got to my ship in February 1977. Things weren't that great. Desertion was real high. If you wanted out all you had to do was go AWOL or U.A. as the Navy called it for 31 days and turn yourself in at another command for processing out under a less than Honorable Discharge. I know many who did just that including a few high school classmates. That policy stopped under Carter as it undermined morale and discipline. Rummy was considering using that policy again as Sec of Def under W.
In some fairness to the man Carter was left a huge mess and I'm speaking Navy wise on this. Someone finally smartened up and realized if you wanted sailors to act like sailors then treat them as such. First thing after ending walk away discharge came restoration of Naval tradition. By 1979 Bosun Pipes were heard loud and clear on all ships. Next came uniform recognition. The dress blues I received out of Basic looked like a Naval Officers uniform minus the gold. This was changed back to the traditional Cracker Jack uniform. Next came retention issues. I was a Machinist Mate and was offered over $15K to reenlist plus E-5 {my next rank} in 1980. Things got bad but things also got better.
By late 1982 when the recession hit I considered going back in as jobs were not to be found in my area. I went and talked to a recruiter. The billets were full. Why? Because Reagan made wise use of the recession :>}. Reagan took our Navy to an all time high in readiness.
Our military readiness level of today is far below that of when Carter was in office and has been there since about 1996 as far as active duty and reserves manpower goes. I will say this as well. As bad as things got under Carter our carriers were able to get underway and we did not flunk critical operational readiness inspections or not qualify for deployment. The ones inspecting back then were tough old salts. You had to know you job and you equipment had to be operational. Failure was not allowed. Those aren't just my words of "Failure was not allowed" but those of my uncle who was a retired Gator Freighter Captain. We talked about two carriers undeployable after 9/11 and he said to me "How can they fail INSURV and Light OFFs? They Navy won't let you fail them". That was from an old WW2 enlisted rank sailor who made it up to Commander before a mid 1970's retirement.
Yes I do. The GOP two house majority helped Slick Willie cut the fleet. Remember this that they were the majority for 6 of Clinton's 8 years and 6 of W's as well. There are those in either party who would do it. Our military has been on a bad downward spiral since Poppy Bush was in office. Where was Johnny?
I made a trip back to NORVA in 2002. My one and only trip back since 1980 when I got out of the Navy. When I was in I lived in Oceanview for a year. It was basically an off base military community. When I went back in 2002 it was gone. I mean about 25 blocks of houses and apartments gone. It looked like a ghost town. The only apartment building still standing was the one I lived at in 1980 across from where a Best Western also gone once was. Johnny and Barry are two sides of the same coin.
I have an idea as to why the votes for Obama were high there but I'll not go into that here. I bet Obama also carried Portsmouth by about 90% Most of the military stationed in Tidewater vote in their home state.
The Kenyan Clown intends to destroy our military.
Texas is getting the same treatment, for the same reason.
The BAE/Stewart & Stevens MRAP contract got pulled from Sealy, Tex., and shipped off to Bill Proxmire and Russ Feingold's Wisconsin.
NASA is being gutted and turned into (you laugh?) a Moslem outreach organization to help Moslems "feel" wonderful about their wonderful contributions to science and mathematics. Obama was very particular in letting NASA know he wanted that "support" to come from them!
And now the drilling embargo. Shallow-water as well as deep-water drilling is essentially shut down, at great loss to the economies of Texas (GOP governor), Louisiana (GOP governor), Mississippi, and Alabama.
Obama ordered EPA to seize regulation of all "emissions" projects (economic projects) in Texas and subject them to strict scrutiny by the green-eyed monsters of the Ecology Movement. More economic beat-down.
Obama is very seriously screwing with us.
I could see them decommissioning the Sixth Fleet first. With the end of the Cold War that fleet lost most of its purpose in the Med.
I’ll tell you what happened to that area of houses... Norfolk decided it wanted them for “redevelopment”. They tore it all down and built expensive condos.
I personally thought it was because we dared to embarrass him by voting in Republicans last year.
“I could see them decommissioning the Sixth Fleet first.”
When Second Fleet ships deploy to the Med they are then Sixth Fleet ships. Point is, except for Mount Whitney, there is no permanent Sixth Fleet to decommission.
“With the end of the Cold War that fleet lost most of its purpose in the Med.”
The Soviets did not have a large presence in the Med even during the cold war. That was only one of the many reasons we were there. I’d argue the Sixth Fleet is needed in the Med now, more than ever.
And nobody is suggesting that if they decommission the 2nd Fleet then all the ships assigned to it will be scrapped as well. The 2nd Fleet has a substantial staff in Norfolk, and the 6th Fleet has a substantial staff in Naples. If you're going to cut costs by cutting billets then get rid of the ones in Europe. Get rid of the recently established 4th Fleet as well. Realize your savings from two less important commands rather than gutting the one major command in the Atlantic Fleet.
Minor correction - your son requested retirement - and can be released next Spring.
If an officer wants out of the service prior to having 20 years, he resigns his commission - essentially turns it in.
An officer with 20 or more years can retire ...and is entitled to retain the title of the rank the officer has. So your son is entitled to state - Name, CAPT, USN(ret).
Thanks to him for his service.
Mike
Navy - retired.
Thanks for the info. When I went through there the summer of 02 IIRC it looked like someone had started at one end and went to Little Creek Rd with a bulldozer leveling everything. I lived up near the point or curve on Oceanview Blvd across for the Best Western. Nothing much had built back. Even the huge apartment complex on the point was gone. The only thing left standing was two convenience stores and my old apartment bldg. I even remember the old amusement park and when they tore it down.
When I was there outside the main gate at N.O.B. was nothing for about a mile or two. It now has shopping centers and fast food. I wish we'd had that when I was in. LOL.. I used to walk from the piers to Denny's in Oceanview for Pizza or out to Military Mall. Yea I walked to there and back also a couple of times LOL. One thing I did manage to do by memory was make the circle from NOB main gate up the Blvd tothe first fork to the left & out to Military Hiway,and back down Little Creek to Oceanview. VB sure had changed as well. I remembered the old wooden Boardwalk. That part I wish they had kept.
My aunt and uncle back in the early to mid 70's owned a gas station real close to Mt Trashmore in VB. They sold out and moved back to Tennessee while I was on a MED Cruise in 77.
I agree with you. We saw more Russian ships off VACAPES than in the MED. Several reasons for a continues presence in the MED is Libya, Syria, and Turkey, to name a few. Another reason is to protect our own shipping interest. I can remember a two carrier group force presence in the MED 24/7/365 no matter what else was going on in the world. We were able to maintain that even with a 13 carrier force plus keep at least one WESTPAC. Anyone thinking we can afford anymore reductions in fleet better look at the reality of these numbers U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1917-
We're headed into some very deep readiness issues. Some of those are ones which have been surfacing since the mid to late 1990's because of over deployments and missed ship yard maintenance. We can't afford any more downsizing on any level and still get the job done.
If we are cutting defense, lets cut it at the very top - we don’t need the currrent commander and chief.
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