Posted on 10/01/2006 11:36:31 PM PDT by MadIvan
So, Andy wanted to "Cut and Run" too.
I love it when we squeel with delight when a lib starts telling the truth about happenings inside a lib administration, but are peeved when our side offers an insight. Transparency is something to be for,not against. And not just when it hurts those who you oppose.
I didn't serve active under Caspar. I went in under Rummy. I got to my ship mid February 77. Things were pretty much a mess as far as morale and discipline went. I knew quite a few who took the 30 day instant civilian way out. Some I went to high school with and some I saw leave while on the ship. I also saw daily ship U.A. and desertion numbers as for a few months I worked in the Engineering Log Room. It was pretty bad in general up till about late 1979. Some things had came under control like addressing AWOL and desertion. I don't know who it was but someone began tacking bad time plus making them stay their obligation :>}. When Sec of Navy changed in late 1979 more positive changes came mentioned in a previous post. I do remember the only reason we ever did not get underway was some brief stand downs for the fuel crisis.
We had our share of problems don't get me wrong but we stayed mission ready. We never failed not one readiness inspection. One of the Inspectors I remember well because he was the Main Propulsion Assistant on the ship when I first got there and left to become an Inspector. He was perhaps one of the most brilliant Engineering Officers I had seen. You didn't get nothing past the man. Anyone who can off the top of his head quote valve numbers and locations of those valves of a carrier propulsion and auxiliary equipment as well is someone to look up to. It was ones like him who kept things going.
I remember one other thing. We went into overhaul October 79 for a year and I think this was a first possibly because of the Iranian Crisis. The Navy was using us to do a lot of the shipyard work. But at least we were in the yards. Duty sections at one point was 3 section meaning every third night spent onboard vs a more traditional 5-6 section. Things were better when I left than they were when I got there I do remember that much.
One other thing I did get out at the end of my enlistment. Two years later I tried to go back in. There was no room in the inn so to speak and I had worked in a critical rating. I enlisted in the Army NG's in 1984 so technically I served under three POTUS and their Sec of Def.
I reckon one of the biggest things that burnt me about Cheney was losses that came under his watch like the F-14 project and a newer conventional carrier ran unnecessarily to an early end by him and Clinton combined but that's another story.
When Bob Woodward decides who shall be our Secretary of Defense will be the time I stop voting.
ping post 7, 10, 12 and thread
First I've read of the beotch.
Ping to post #12; maybe you could ping the anthrax crowd.
First I've heard of the information in Posts 7, 10 and 12.
First rate research, piasa and Jane. I wish you were both writing for a newspaper.
Great post! And so true. LOL
Outstanding posts as usual piasa. Thanks.
Correct me if I'm wrong: isn't Card the one who got sacked?
So you were his military aide?
I suspect this fact is rather instructive.
I suspect this fact is rather instructive.
"I don't want to jeopardize my legacy" would probably be a good ballpark answer. Rumsfeld needed to be replaced with Card and Powell. The only reason not to do so, considering how poorly our efforts Iraq and Afghanistan are doing, is because of the fears that it would be seen as evidence that Iraq and Afghanistan aren't doing well. When your PR angle is 'The sun will come up tomorrow', it's downright dangerous to the message to make moves to the contrary.
Retired? What a crock, he was fired (and it was long overdue).
Andrew Card, part of the run and hide brigade.
Why? Is it wrong for Card to advise the President to remove Rumsfeld?
This shoots the whole "state of denial" claim. Bush wasn't being spoon-fed happy news, he got differing opinions from different people, and made real decisions.
Nobody on the left respected Card as an advisor to the president, and now they are going to say he was god-like and should have been listened to?
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