Road to 350: What Does the US Navy Do Anyway?

[ChuckMK23]

An Admiral’s Rise Reveals the Politics Driving Hegseth’s Pentagon

Before he was picked to lead the Navy, Adm. Daryl Caudle found ways to signal his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-diversity goals.

www.nytimes.com

Adm. Daryl Caudle saw an opening to land the Navy’s top job last year, and he seized it.

Before Pete Hegseth had even been sworn in as defense secretary, Admiral Caudle, then the head of a major Navy training command, offered to help Mr. Hegseth prepare for his politically contentious Senate confirmation hearing, according to current and former defense officials.

 

[sevenhelmet]

An Admiral’s Rise Reveals the Politics Driving Hegseth’s Pentagon

Before he was picked to lead the Navy, Adm. Daryl Caudle found ways to signal his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-diversity goals.

www.nytimes.com

Adm. Daryl Caudle saw an opening to land the Navy’s top job last year, and he seized it.

Before Pete Hegseth had even been sworn in as defense secretary, Admiral Caudle, then the head of a major Navy training command, offered to help Mr. Hegseth prepare for his politically contentious Senate confirmation hearing, according to current and former defense officials.

Despite the NYT’s obvious bias, that guy sounds like a real piece of work.

I’ve said it before, but I think the days of our military being a nonpartisan institution are behind us, at least for the time being.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Despite the NYT’s obvious bias, that guy sounds like a real piece of work.

I’ve said it before, but I think the days of our military being a nonpartisan institution are behind us, at least for the time being.

The politicalization of our military culture is, I think, the biggest threat to our ability to deter our adversaries.

 

[Brett327]

The politicalization of our military culture is, I think, the biggest threat to our ability to deter our adversaries.

Off the top of my head, I'd go with critically low weapons stockpiles as a much, much bigger threat, but this Trump admin has certainly made it very easy for those who see the apolitical ideals of our military as an obstacle rather than an essential core belief of the profession of Arms.

Hard to see whether this portrays Caudle as a mere opportunist or someone truly politically and philosophically aligned with Hegseth - the latter being more problematic, but either option is distasteful at the very least. With Kilby as the only other practical alternative once Franchetti was ousted, I figured him to be the heir apparent.

Other than his disproportionate number of appearances on FNC, I haven't had any major issues with Caudle other than the no aviators commanding amphibs change, but this certainly paints him in a less favorable light. How he reacts to this story should provide some clues.

 

[Spekkio]

Despite the NYT’s obvious bias, that guy sounds like a real piece of work.

I’ve said it before, but I think the days of our military being a nonpartisan institution are behind us, at least for the time being.

Caudle made 1-star under Obama and 4-star under Biden when he was appointed as USFFC. The NYT story conveniently leaves those details out because it's contrary to the narrative that the current CNO is a Trump croney.

Also, his flag career trajectory doesn't look abnormal for someone appointed to the office of CNO (and neither does ADM Franchetti's, which is why everyone is all like 'wtf?' regarding her relief). It's important to remember that the military recommended ADM Paparo for CNO, but Biden said no and appointed ADM Franchetti. If you're an administration vehemently against DEI, that's enough smoke to call fire. On a significantly less controversial note, ADM Franchetti's countdown to war with China on her desk was 180 out from this administration's national security strategy.

Anyway, this story reads like an Epstein conspiracy theory that implies people are guilty by association.

It's kinda hard to be a Republican lackey when you've spent your flag career bouncing between 4 administrations, roughly split evenly between Democrat and Republicans. Perhaps ADM Caudle had the foresight and vision to predict that Hegseth would beat a 50/50 Senate confirmation decided by the VP before it happened, but I'm inclined to think that people aren't that talented at seeing the future without overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Especially when backing the wrong guy is a high risk / low reward proposition.

 

[taxi1]

Caudle made 1-star under Obama and 4-star under Biden when he was appointed as USFFC. The NYT story conveniently leaves those details out because it's contrary to the narrative that the current CNO is a Trump croney.

Also, his flag career trajectory doesn't look abnormal for someone appointed to the office of CNO (and neither does ADM Franchetti's, which is why everyone is all like 'wtf?' regarding her relief). It's important to remember that the military recommended ADM Paparo for CNO, but Biden said no and appointed ADM Franchetti. If you're an administration vehemently against DEI, that's enough smoke to call fire. On a significantly less controversial note, ADM Franchetti's countdown to war with China on her desk was 180 out from this administration's national security strategy.

Anyway, this story reads like an Epstein conspiracy theory that implies people are guilty by association.

It's kinda hard to be a Republican lackey when you've spent your flag career bouncing between 4 administrations, roughly split evenly between Democrat and Republicans. Perhaps ADM Caudle had the foresight and vision to predict that Hegseth would beat a 50/50 Senate confirmation decided by the VP before it happened, but I'm inclined to think that people aren't that talented at seeing the future without overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Especially when backing the wrong guy is a high risk / low reward proposition.

From the article…

To help resolve the inquiry, Admiral Caudle hired Timothy Parlatore, a Navy Reservist and well-known lawyer who had represented Mr. Hegseth and President Trump.

That’s where it gets slimy to me.

 

[Brett327]

From the article…

To help resolve the inquiry, Admiral Caudle hired Timothy Parlatore, a Navy Reservist and well-known lawyer who had represented Mr. Hegseth and President Trump.

That’s where it gets slimy to me.

The SAPR hot water that Caudle found himself in was such an own goal. Of course, sensible people can credibly suggest that limiting risky victim behaviors can reduce the overall risk of being a victim of SA... but you simply cannot say that as a 4 star leader. The risk/reward proposition for making that kind of a statement is so bad... he should have known better... unless he saw himself as some kind of anti-woke crusader.

 

[Spekkio]

From the article…

To help resolve the inquiry, Admiral Caudle hired Timothy Parlatore, a Navy Reservist and well-known lawyer who had represented Mr. Hegseth and President Trump.

That’s where it gets slimy to me.

Oh my god... high profile wealthy person uses the same attorney as other high profile wealthy people!

The horror!

Again, this is some Epstein style guilty by association writing with very little substance behind it.

 

[Spekkio]

The SAPR hot water that Caudle found himself in was such an own goal. Of course, sensible people can credibly suggest that limiting risky victim behaviors can reduce the overall risk of being a victim of SA... but you simply cannot say that as a 4 star leader. The risk/reward proposition for making that kind of a statement is so bad... he should have known better... unless he saw himself as some kind of anti-woke crusader.

He said it circa 2023, as USFFC, while Biden was in office. That'd be awfully terrible timing to be an anti-woke crusader.

Also, I don't follow how we can tell people to lock their guns in a safe to reduce the risk of suicide but we can't tell people steps to mitigate the risk of sexual assault.

 

[Swanee]

Oh my god... high profile wealthy person uses the same attorney as other high profile wealthy people!

The horror!

Again, this is some Epstein style guilty by association writing with very little substance behind it.

Stop.