And America's enemies smile "good".
Thank goodness I served when Lehman was Secretary of the Navy.
Unfortunately we will all have to drain the bitter cup of military incompetence caused by PC. Hopefully, we will not have to meet a first rate military power for at least another generation. If this PC crap keeps going and the Chinese improve they will clean our clock.
Gee, what took him so long to come out with this? Anyone who served in the last 20 years knows this to be the case. Anyone who suffered through a sexual harassment stand down knows this to be true. And now the gays? You ain’t seen nothing yet...
Great article....exactly on target....rats are scurrying away from the blast zone.
He says it for the Navy, but it applies to all of the armed services. Morale, unit pride, cohesiveness and fear of unfounded and petty charges are steadily eroding many units effectiveness across the services. The problem was stated well a few years back when my military doctor who had been an enlisted man for a number of years before becoming a doctor told me that after his next assignment he was retiring because this was no longer the military that old guys like he and I had originally entered. He and Lehman are absolutely correct.
Spineless cowards.
Strongly agree with Sec. Lehman.
Lehman is obviously a fool. The only purpose of the military is to be social experiment, build hospitals and schools, deliver food to starving somalis and be targets for muslims.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
John Lehman has more guts in his pinkie toe than the current crew have collectively. Too bad he will be completely ignored and the gutting of our once proud US Navy will continue.
There's an underground patch our there, something like, “Next Time Call the Girls and Fags.”
Well, it’s about time that somebody with stature has spoken out.
Maybe, under the next administration, this will filter down to the Admissions Office at USNA.
Unlikely.Their stars should be painted brown.
I believe it was Lehman who said this to a graduating class at the Naval Academy while SECNAV:
“You will soon be looking across several hundred yard of open water at some of the most sophistocated military hardware in the world. Unfortunately, it will be on Soviet ship.”
The guy’s too truthful to survive in the current DC culture of lies and deceit.
Here's an excerpt:
"Anyone who is disgusted with Pat Schroeder's politically correct navy will get a thrill up the spine and a lump in the throat reading these descriptions of a time when America's sailing men were wind-whipped, not pussy-whipped, and morale was in the stratosphere. Be prepared to wipe away a few tears.
At Manila Bay, the moment Commodore George Dewey's immortal order, 'You may fire when you are ready, Gridley,' was passed to the fleet, 'bands in the Olympia and Baltimore began playing 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' At the last note the men gave a rousing cheer and the firing commenced.
It was not the only music heard that day. Aboard the Raleigh a young lieutenant went below deck to check on the crew in the powder division and found them singing a new popular song. He had never heard it before but his instincts told him it would do for this war what the rebel yell had done for the last one:
'Men, we've got 'em on the run. I don't know what that tune is you were singing but it's a corker; keep it up. I want the music to reach the upper deck.' And through the rest of the battle, the strains of 'There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight' rolled up through the ammunition hoists and cheered the men at the guns.
When plans were being made to blockade Santiago, Lt. Richmond P. Hobson conceived a plan to block up the harbor by sinking a collier containing 2,000 tons of coal, 'corking the Spanish like a bug in a bottle.' The mission, which involved setting off explosives with split-second timing, would be carried out today by Navy Seals, but Hobson had to do it with seven volunteers:
The signal had gone from the flagship seeking volunteers 'for a desperate and perhaps fatal expedition.' From the Iowa came the reply, 'Every man on this ship wants to go"; the Texas responded with, 'Two-thirds of the...crew are fighting for first place.' Hobson was besieged with junior officers begging for a chance at death or glory."
John S. Lehman was my first re-enlisting officer(1984/USS Independence CV-62). I miss the Reagan Military!