Excellent logic as usual Flash. Lets just buy one REALLY good ship. That should work for keeping the sea lanes open. (insert rolling eye's emoticon here) As has been pointed out here multiple times, shear numbers isn't the answer but to say we have enough of the right ships to do what is demanded of the sea service and what will be demande of it over the next decade is not accurate.
I never said that, but I guess that would never stop someone from a good argument. And saying that we don't have enough ships isn't exactly a 'factual' one but more of an opinion.
Page 10 bottom. One can argue since there are no numbers it's all number one or none right? Better yet. Go sit as a recorder on a promotion or selection board and tell me that "diversity" isn't a primary driver. You'll also enjoy going back to the tank for another week after the JAG review says you didn't pick the right mix. BTDT.
Stop the presses! Page 10?! And bottom of the page! That must make it number one then! As for it being the supposed primary driver for promotion boards, I have no idea. But looking at the Admirals listed in
Proceedings or looking around at my peers or immediate superiors, I don't see that claim ringing as true as some suppose.
Certainly not infalliable but the only reason they were allowed tremendous success was they were in allowed to take tremendous chances and to sometimes fail. The zero defect atitude of today's military coupled with a policy of rapidly folding to any percieved pressure (e.g. Capt Honors) will ensure the continued to promotion of safe managers and not leaders. There are exceptions and maybe MRT is one, but I see less and less and know far too many cases where effective leaders had their careers truncated far too early.
I am not so sure that history is so rosy with our Navy. Again you only have to go back to that time period to find it replete with examples of poor leaders who failed to make the transition from peacetime leadership to wartime rapidly. Some of the more well known examples are from the Army but the Navy had it's share to include VADMs Ghormley and Pye. It just goes to show that there is no perfect way of choosing leaders, even back in the halcyon days of WWII.
And I don't think there is some sort of epidemic of careers truncated due to a zero defect mentality, at least not from I have seen first-hand. There are generally less than 20 COs relieved a year and while CAPT Honors was a well-known example, I have seen a few of my COs and many of my fellow officers do 'worse' things and still survive and often thrive. I can think of a score of examples off the top of my head were guys and gals careers could have ended due to certain actions but didn't because their command gave them a second chance, most of which I agreed with and a few I didn't. Some of those folks are now COs or are slated to do so. The only examples I have seen first-hand where guys and gals have had their career ended was due to pretty egregious violations of the rules or regs, like sexual assault or drug dealing. So while there are some very well-known examples of someone getting done wrong due to un-PC behavior or actions, and I know that many here could name a few they saw first-hand other than CAPT Honors, I just don't see it as some kind of epidemic that is crippling the Navy as some seem to claim.
The Mount Whitney is the only assigned 6th fleet ship. Sure, they have some oversight of ships transiting their AOR but think that you need a couple more of your own assets given the Med is still the major transit zone for half the world to the worlds trouble spots and that some serious ones exist right in the middle of your AOR might make sense to own some stuff. Your premise that we could have freed up a big deck for Libya without impacting other current or next ops is hollow.
I don't have a view into what is there right now but that was never the case the 4 or so recent years I had a view on ops there. I didn't say that freeing up a big deck wouldn't impact ops elsewhere (again, words in my mouth......), just that we could have done but did not due to political and other considerations. Any movement of assets is always going to have an impact, whether it would have been a significant one is debatable. Either way the Euros and UAVs with some assist from land-based US assets seem to be doing an okay job.
I get the feeling you enjoy being the nerd who thinks he knows everything and just plain likes to think they're the new age enlightened one in a bunch of dinosaurs. Guess what? You're wrong, and like most of the liberal ilk you show an inability to acknowledge the change that is happening outside your narrow view of what you "know"
Thanks for diagnosing my issue as a political one, even though we haven't touched on that area yet. Seriously, you can't have an intelligent debate without attacking me? Kinda weak. I didn't realize I could be wrong with my opinion, since like your view it is largely just that, an opinion. But I guess since my 'narrow' view of the world doesn't always agree with yours I must be wrong. Pity me.
Good stuff.