ProudTiger Loc: Tennessee

Multiple US Navy investigations have taken place this year re: Four accidents and two recent major collisions involving US Navy ships in the Pacific. The following is a post that puts it in perspective and what many Navy veterans as well as active duty members acutely understand. The following article is written by Admiral (four stars) James Lyons the former Commander of the US Pacific Fleet. He is a distinguished Navy officer with years of experience -- he has been there and done that along with thousands of other Navy personnel. I most strongly support his findings!

AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!!! But will the Navy and other services heed the warning. If Admiral Moorer (former Chairman JCS) was with us today he would be shouting the same tune!! Just as he fought against open homosexuals in the Navy with Bill Clinton.

I wonder if the dog is too far out of the pen, the cat too far out of the bag and the horse too far out of the barn to recover???

The Admiral's post applies to the US Navy as well as to other combatant units in other Armed services including the Army and USMC -- The US Armed Forces are not a platform for Social Experiments. Admiral Lyons puts the hay down where the goats can get it!

--Jack B

Ace Lyons hits it out of the park! This man knows what is going on.
“I never understood why a newly commissioned ensign from the U.S. Naval Academy or from a four-year NROTC program had to be sent to six months of additional training to learn to be a division officer before reporting to his first ship. What was he doing for four years of intense training at the U.S. Naval Academy?”


The crux of the Navy’s collisions
Social engineering mandates have c*********d shipboard readiness

Ref: http://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/image/9_6_2017_b3-lyon-navy-damage8201jpg/

Ref: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/6/navy-ship-collisions-can-be-avoided-in-the-future/

By James A. Lyons - - Wednesday, September 6, 2017

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The U.S. Navy’s loss of two sophisticated, key anti-ballistic-missile-capable destroyers within a matter of several weeks is symptomatic of a much larger issue. The fact that these highly maneuverable ships were “steaming” independently and collided with two civilian merchant ships, which was clearly avoidable, demands drastic corrective action. A recent directive by the Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson calling for a top-to-bottom review by all levels of theNavy’s command structure is a step in the right direction.

Areas most likely to be reviewed include the current size of the Navy and an assessment of its impact on force deployments, operational tempo as well as lack of time for required maintenance. Certainly, current training procedures and how personnel are qualified to perform critical bridge watch-standing duties, as well as in the combat information center, must be examined. While these are key areas to review, the Navy has always had long deployments and overworked crews, neither of which affected fundamental seamanship on operating our ships. However, I am sure that eliminating of the Surface Warfare Officer School will be highlighted as a contributing factor.

In that sense, I never understood why a newly commissioned ensign from the U.S. Naval Academy or from a four-year NROTC program had to be sent to six months of additional training to learn to be a division officer before reporting to his first ship. What was he doing for four years of intense training at the U.S. Naval Academy?

One area that I have not heard would be examined is a “third rail” for the Navy as it deals with personnel-manning policies for its ships and aircraft squadrons: What impact has “diversity” policies had on a ship’s manning criteria? Implicit within this is examining what has been the impact of President Obama’s social engineering mandates that were forced on our military and their negative impact on our readiness and capabilities. His Executive Order 13583 declaring that “diversity” is a strategic imperative critical to mission readiness and accomplishment simply does not compute. This is faculty lounge logic. What the EO did, in effect, was to provide cover for the forced implementation of his social engineering programs. Many of these programs were a distraction with valuable time dev**ed to “sensitivity training” instead of, for example, learning the meaning of “code of conduct.” Due to political correctness, our military leaders failed to challenge the EO just as they failed to challenge the Restricted Rules of Engagement that cost so many lives.

Another distraction that needs to be reviewed is the opening of all combat roles to women. There are many viable roles for women in the military — combat is not one of them.

When I used to visit ship wardrooms, it was not unusual for me to find that the chief engineer was an MIT graduate, the anti-submarine officer was a graduate of Brown, the weapons officer was a Naval Academy graduate, the first lieutenant was from Princeton, and so on. You won’t find a wardroom today with such talent. This is due primarily to current shipboard-manning policies that preclude this type of talent from getting shipboard billets.

President Trump’s recent decision to ban t*********r personnel from military service was clearly the right decision. No finer expert that Dr. Paul McHugh, former head psychologist at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, has stated that t*********rism is not a physical issue, it is a mental disorder that needs understanding and treatment. It is not a civil rights issue and should never be forced on the military. However, with the hijacking of the American Psychological Association (APA) by the left, there are now enough v**es to classify a mental disorder (t*********rism) as perfectly “normal.” Clearly, the APA should be decertified and no longer used by the Department of Defense as the key reference.

Over the years, I have found that there are three elements aboard ship that are unacceptable for good order and discipline. One, you cannot have a thief; two, you cannot tolerate a drug user or drug pusher; and three, you cannot have a homosexual aboard. In fact, the entire L**T agenda is clearly a distraction and impacts negatively on unit integrity, cohesiveness and the “will to win.” It should be pointed out that in the late 1800s, homosexuality was so rampant on Navy ships that mothers would not let their sons enlist until the Navy cleaned up its act.

The bottom line is that the military is an institution whose mission is to protect and defend the country against all enemies foreign or domestic. Anything that distracts from this mission must be rejected. It is the institution that sets the standards for enlistment. No one has a right to serve in the military unless they meet those standards. In that sense, Navy leadership can take the lead in rejecting the social engineering mandates that were forced on our military forces by the Obama administration.

I believe the current problems our ships are experiencing can be traced to these mandates. With the hundreds of millions of dollars that are expended to build today’s sophisticated warships, we must have the “best and brightest” to man those ships. Now is the time to take the lead by breaking the shackles of political correctness and put the Navyback on an even keel.

• James A. Lyons, a retired U.S. Navy Admiral, was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations.

Gatsby

More proof that social engineering and political correctness are "Social Diseases", that destroy from within.

America can only be destroyed from within.

Hurricane Harvey fundementally t***sformed Houston, much as Obama fundementally t***sformed America.

Both can be rebuilt!

ProudTiger Loc: Tennessee

I apologize for such lengthy reads on this subject but it is important and worthy of "Front Page" coverage. Here is more information on the awful state of readiness in the US Navy. No Hortentz... It "ain't" a conspiracy!

We could scream "SHOCKING"!.... But most of us from the relatively "old days" in the Navy have seen this deplorable situation building under Obama. Now we have a full blooming MESS for the world to see. Don't it make you proud?

Better yet.... What the hell are we going to do about it? Nothing happens quickly in such a mess. Orders and orders and more orders will likely make only a small dent just like the regulation for no fraternization and sexual favors between the sexes aboard ships has been smartly ignored. And we are preparing for a major conflict with NoKo???

Jack B

The Navy – It’s Not a Job, It’s a Total Cluster
http://usdefensewatch.com/2017/09/the-navy-its-not-a-job-its-a-total-cluster/
Ray Starmann - 8 Sep 17 - USDEFENSEWATCH

The US Navy, the mighty and heroic service that beat the tar out of America’s enemies for 240 years; the force that won brilliant victories at Midway, Manila Bay, Leyte Gulf, Lake Erie and a thousand other places is no more.

he US Navy that refused to surrender and ‘had not begun to fight’ under the leadership of John Paul Jones, is now too incompetent to fight anyone; and every American should be seriously concerned.
To paraphrase Oliver Perry, “We have met the enemy and it is cultural Marxism and social engineering.”
The latest debacle to engulf the Navy was reported yesterday in a myriad of media outlets, including US Defense Watch.

According to Fox News:
The majority of ships operating in the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, where two destroyers have been involved in fatal collisions since June, weren’t certified to conduct basic operations at sea related to war-fighting, according to U.S. Navy records.

As of late June, eight of the 11 cruisers and destroyers in the Seventh Fleet, and their crew members, weren’t certified by the U.S. Navy to conduct “mobility seamanship,” or basic steering of the ship, according to U.S. Navy records provided to two House Armed Services subcommittees.
The Navy also said that seven of those ships had expired training certification in the areas of cruise missile defense and surface warfare, which test a crew’s ability to defend a ship or to conduct attacks.

Don’t worry about basic seamanship; who needs that in the Navy? As for basic ship steering, why would anyone need to know how to steer a ship at sea? Don’t they just float on their own? There’s like currents out there…
Good God…
This latest revelation comes after the Navy’s year of collisions at sea. The USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine-f**gged vessel on June 17, k*****g seven crew members. The USS John McCain collided with a Liberian-f**gged vessel Aug. 21, k*****g 10 sailors. Neither the Fitzgerald nor the McCain were certified for the majority of the mission operation requirements that the Navy periodically evaluates.

t first it was thought that somehow the diabolical Kim Jong-un had somehow found a way to hack into ship navigational systems, thereby causing the collisions.

It’s not Kim, it’s not China, it’s not Putin and it’s not Dr. No. It’s a lack of training, a lack of focus on what is important and it’s a complete abandonment of the Navy’s and the military’s mission which is to train for war and to win those wars when called upon to do so.

The Navy repeatedly has said that increased demand on the Seventh Fleet has resulted in cutbacks on training and certifications. That pressure has only increased in recent months with each North Korean missile or weapons test, as the fleet conducts more exercises and patrols with the same number of ships.

Wouldn’t continual time at sea actually hone sk**ls rather than erode or eradicate them? Wouldn’t continual time at sea be a place to conduct training and ensure that certifications are carried out? After all, you can’t practice seamanship sitting in a building in San Diego.
One wonders what the Navy is doing with their training time instead of learning sk**ls sailors have had since the Carthaginians defeated the fleet of Pyrrhus of Epirus in 276 B.C.

I don’t buy the excuse that deployments are making shoddy sailors. The Navy is making shoddy sailors by focusing on issues that have nothing to do with war fighting.
The Navy’s problems also don’t lie with just the 7th Fleet.

In January 2016, two US Navy high speed Riverine boats from the 5th Fleet were apparently underway from Bahrain to Kuwait when they strayed into Iranian waters, while attempting to contact a vessel to refuel. The Pentagon first said that they had engine trouble. Yet, if that was the case, why didn’t the other boat tow the boat with mechanical problems to international waters and safety?
Then, the Pentagon said that they had navigational issues. How was this possible in 2016, with each boat having an array of GPS and radar equipment? Even if one boat’s systems completely shut down, couldn’t they rely on the other boat’s GPS or radar?

Lieutenant David Nartker, commanding officer of the two US Navy Riverine boats, surrendered his men and his craft with superior firepower to a half dozen Iranian thugs in bass boats that looked like they belonged on Bill Dance’s fishing show. Nartker surrendered without firing so much as a flare. After boarding the Navy boats, Nartker and his men were ordered down on their knees while the Iranians trained machine guns and cameras on them.
Nartker doubled and tripled and quadrupled down on his disgraceful conduct by apologizing to the Iranians for a worldwide TV audience.

“It was a mistake. That was our fault and we apologize for our mistake,” Nartker said in the video. “It was a misunderstanding. We did not mean to go into Iranian territorial water. The Iranian behavior was fantastic while we were here. We thank you very much for your hospitality and your assistance.”

To add insult to injury, one of his men felt it was an opportune time to start bawling his head off like he was a guest on Oprah, letting the Iranians and everyone on the planet know that US Navy sailors of 2016 were not made from the same mold as the guys who won the Battle of Midway.
Last September, a baby was born on the aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight David Eisenhower, which is part of the 5th Fleet.

According to the Navy, “As the baby was born at sea aboard an operational unit, the main focus for the U.S. Navy, the ship and its crew is the safety and well being of the baby and the mother,” Cmdr. Bill Urban, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command spokesman, told The Virginian-Pilot. Urban continued - “While it would have been preferred to send her to her home port earlier, per policy, we are now focused on caring for the health and welfare of our Sailor and the newest member of our Navy family,” Urban said.

Absolutely, Commander Urban, the main priority of a Navy ship of war is post natal care. I mean why not, the Navy can’t do anything else right, why not just become a floating maternity ward.
Apparently an incubator, diapers and formula were flown out to the carrier following the baby’s birth.

If collisions at sea, babies on board warships, crying sailors and gutless leaders aren’t enough, there’s the Fat Leonard scandal.

The Washington Post called the Fat Leonard scandal, "perhaps the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War." At the heart of the scandal was Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a firm run by Leonard Glenn Francis, a Malaysian national known as "Fat Leonard" for his 350-pound weight.[2] Francis provided thousands of dollars in cash, travel expenses, luxury items, and prostitutes to a large number of U.S. uniformed officers, who in turn gave him classified material about the movements of U.S. ships and submarines, confidential contracting information, and information about active law enforcement investigations into Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Francis then "exploited the intelligence for illicit profit, brazenly ordering his moles to redirect aircraft carriers to ports he controlled in Southeast Asia so he could more easily bilk the Navy for fuel, tugboats, barges, food, water and sewage removal.

The US Navy is being eaten alive by corruption, by gutless admirals, by politically correct officers, by social engineering and cultural Marxism which have just about deep-sixed it forever.

In actuality, the Navy has been sliding down the drain for 26 years, ever since the feminist slaughter house called the Tailhook Affair, when hundreds of US Navy and Marine Corps officers, including Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Frank Kelso, were keel-hauled by the Navy for drinking, carousing, indecent conduct and drummed up charges of sexual assault. Imagine that, aviators who drink and get laid; can’t have that in the military.
Tailhook became a catalyst for the left and for feminists to destroy the military through social engineering. As James Webb remarked, "When the Tailhook investigation began, and certain political elements used the incident to bring discredit on naval aviation as a whole, and then on the Navy writ large, one is entitled to ask... Who fought this? Who condemned it? When a whole generation of officers is asked to accept ... the destruction of the careers of some of the finest aviators in the Navy based on hearsay, unsubstantiated allegations, in some cases after a full repudiation of anonymous charges that resemble the worst elements of McCarthyism ... what admiral has had the courage to risk his own career by putting his stars on the table, and defending the integrity of the process and of its people?"
Since September of 1991, the Navy has slowly castrated itself with a pen knife, t***sforming the once proud service into the ill-functioning eunuch of today.
We now have a Navy that can’t fight, can’t navigate, and is largely without basic seamanship sk**ls.
One must ask what the PC revolution has done to help the US Navy fight and win wars?
It’s done nothing except to put people’s lives in danger and to get people k**led.
Expect more incompetence, more babies born on ships, more PC lunacy and more general misconduct. The US Navy is a total cluster.