I hate to think the solution might be more people and a need for more money. Most people think these serious lack in seamanship is due to a lack of funding for some reason.
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Most people donāt understand the military and get their information from what the flag officers in the pentagon tell the press.
Therefore, to understand the military you must understand the mentality of the flag officers in the pentagonā¦ otherwise you will be susceptible to their spin on events (always remember the CNO didnāt get four stars on his shoulders from being dumbā¦ these are all highly intelligent individuals who plan everything they say).
And the most important thing to understand about the pentagon is itās primary purpose is not defense (that is the purpose of the feild commanders but not the pentagon guys). The primary purpose of the pentagon is to keep the money flowing. And they will use any success or failure within their command to advance this agenda.
But donāt take my word for it:
In short itās the job of the top flag officers to tie everything to the lack of funding. And it is the job of congress to support them spending money because spending money equals jobs in their districs and bigger re-election campaign checks from the defense industry. And the press has to take their word from it because the boots on the ground arenāt allowed to talk to reportyand the facts are all classified.
This (specifically that spending money on big $ projects that taxpayers will eagerly swallowā¦ projects like defense, is one thing that both sides can agree on) is also the primary reason our country is in debt.
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And donāt get me wrong, I agree with most Americans that the defense budget should be increased (and here is why: https://theprint.in/2017/09/20/chinese-navy-built-83-ships-8-years/)ā¦ I just have an issue with wasting enormous amounts on extremely expensive failures, like F-35, which are less capable than the ancient hardware (F16, FA18) they intend to replace. The money needs to go to training and equipment the sailors want not the pie in the expensive, top heavy and slow technowizardy junk the pentagon Admirals get a post-retirement kick back for buying.
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āI just have an issue with wasting enormous amounts on extremely expensive failures, like F-35, which are less capable than the ancient hardware (F16, FA18) they intend to replaceā
Care to back it up with some facts and figures?
Range, weapons, roles, speed, versatility etc?
Will āalternative factsā do???
No because this isnāt an aviation forum but I will share the thoughts of a pentagon insider and the man who designed the most effective air to ground combat airplane ever built (the A10 warthog) because, in discussing the F35ās numerous failures, he also points out a fact that most on this forum have witnessed first handā¦ that āstealhā ships cost a whole lot more to build than conventional warships and is a waste of money because both can be picked up by even a relativly expensive conventional navigation radar.
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I admit I didnāt listen through the whole video as Iām still at the office, but at which point he talks about stealth ships?
[quote=āTupsis, post:826, topic:45129ā]
I admit I didnāt listen through the whole video as Iām still at the office, but at which point he talks about stealth ships?
[/quote]6:04
And he doesnāt talk about stealth ships specifically, he talks about the broader concept of stealth technology.
Good article at Information Dissemination about the hearing.
The US Navy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Tuesday
Asked if requesting a delay in deployment date would negatively affect a commanding officer, Richardson said no and added that āif I could go down and give that commander a handshake and a medal I would do that. This is exactly the type of honesty and transparency we need to run a Navy thatās safe and effective.ā
The CNO would give that CO a medal? That answer is absurd at best, and is indefensible if the Senate hearings are supposed to represent serious discourse on a serious subject regarding a specific action that the FITZ or MCCAIN COs could potentially taken that could have saved lives.
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Iāve seen ships fail to sail before, even going so far as to delay a deployment by a week or two.
It was always for major engineering casualties though, crew proficiency was never the āwe canāt goā criteria.
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: FITZGERALD Officer of the Deck Pleads Guilty At Court-Martial
crikey
we pushed the radar and chart plotter through the TV system on mega yachts 20 years ago