As I am sure you are sadly aware, this did not start in 2017, but more than a quarter-century earlier, with DACOWITS.
I confess I'd never even heard the acronym until after Tailhook '91, at which point, suddenly...there they were, firmly in the saddle (insert your own joke here).
I remember encountering some DACOWITS firebrands back in 1979 and 1987. ***shiver*** The 1987 encounter wasn't so bad. When she was fired they gave me her job. They gave my old job to a stellar officer & lady, a naturalized American citizen born and raised in Spain. She went on to become a Navy doctor. The lady I relieved got separated after not promoting to O-4. "Meritocracy Navy is best Navy."
Being married to a now retired O-6 gave me some insight into the "Old Navy". The USN didn't really know what it wanted from the 1100/GenURL community and there really wasn't much career planning (it was expected women would marry and be separated). In those days joint duty was considered "women's work" in the nav, and I think she was a queen of joint, not by choice. Like expressed in the post, DACOWITS probably was needed when it was founded, but became an end in itself.
Funny thing is the opposite crew on my ustafish was first commissioned as an 1100, and had been assigned to an aviation squadron. He got into the nuclear power program, and ended up as a boat CO. Now he's SES on the OPNAV.
The "Old Navy". When I came in the old navy was squared away BM2's with 4 hashmarks on their sleeve who talked about how better it was before the UCMJ when they had "Rocks & Shoals". It was the crowded after head on my DE with 4 toilets so close together that you rubbed hips and knees with the other 3 relieving themselves. And the old-timers would tell of the old sea privvies that were seawater troughs that carried away "your business" downstream in good weather but sloshed in heavy seas or had pranksters making paper boats that they'd set afire and send downstream like tiny fire ships. It was men sporting Korean War and a few with WWII ribbons. The officers I served with had no warfare pins. Those were for Aviators and Submariners. SWO pins came in the mid-70s. Before the SWO pins I'd hear officers talking about "girls" in reference to other officers. "Girls", I discovered, were 1100/GenURL officers..."GURL's". But they were mostly "girls". During my service the old navy, for me, was back when messcooks peeled potatoes. That era ended with that cursed Extruded Potato Machine and those damnable powdered potatoes that tasted like cardboard were foisted upon the fleet by some McNamara acolyte. I'd be real pleased if 20 years from now some Chief could tell me what his idea of the "Old Navy" is and it wasn't some kind of Lovecraftian horror. I am wishing MAGA well.
We became the Patsy Schroeder Navy. Remember her and her one woman jihad against the Navy which folded like a cheap camera? The brass threw the pilots who won desert storm under the bus.
Oh yeah. I remember her well, and I remember the whole goatrope as well. Especially since I was working at NAVAIR at the time!
In fairness, "the brass" threw one of their own under the bus as well: the first guy to get the chop was Larry Elberfeld, the PMA for the A-12 program, whose aide caused the whole thing to blow up in the first place.
I also remember one of the aviators--can't remember who--telling me that when "the brass" told him his choices were retirement or a general court, his answer was, bring it on. Their response? Eeh...never mind.
CDR Sal, thanks for doing the repulsive task of unplugging the stopped latrine toilet in full view of the installation manager to highlight how bad things still are. Money quote for me: "Those on the struggle bus need to master the fundamentals and work harder." We've been on the struggle bus for a couple of decades, but mistakenly thought we were "the cock of the walk, but were going to end up a feather duster." (Tina Turner, from a Mad Max Movie). Great quote, but she would be immediately dismissed from the NWC faculty if she had said it. The rot is deep.
I saw all the yahoo headlines talking about SecDef ending a Trump military program that advanced women. I knew there had to be more to it. Three things:
1. ..."and we need to broaden the aperture by which we, as an institution of higher learning, examine and affect our dynamic and uncertain world." What kind of clown uses the phrase "broaden the aperture...." I guess maybe I'm just a bad person but when I see that phrase my only response is along the lines of "BOHICA." Sorry. Stop broadening apertures.
2. Also.... anything said by Jeannie Shaheen just needs to be disregarded. She's been bouncing along in her own little struggle bus for decades trying to keep up with people who have room temperature IQs.
3.. And lastly, does WPS have much to say for how to deal with the wimmens and helpless little girls who are feeding ammo boxes to their fellas blowing our troops to kingdom come during a battle? Just wondering if that's part of their lesson plans. Gonna go get another cup of coffee.
Delta Bravo: The "broadening the aperture" metaphor extends the metaphor of viewing issues through "a lens." Whenever some pompous nitwit tells you that her or she is "viewing [insert hot button issue here] through the lens of [inert whacky ideology here], that person is admitting to being non-credible.
The SECDEF should issue an order stating that WPS as it is currently configured is incompatible with the equal protection clause of the 14the amendment and halt it not just minimize it
No doubt the left will go shopping for an Obama appointee to overrule Pete. Let them.
The Left elite thinks they have won whenever a like minded judge over rules the administration in favor of illegal alien criminals. In fact, they are making Americans aware of how hostile they are to the people. Let them do the same with diversity.
Many thanks for clarifying the WPS mess. Not the perspective being promulgated by the lefties and media. Here I was thinking I could not become more ashamed of the NWC.
Does this mean that Hegseth has to give up his makeup room to put on his warrior paint? A serious topic descends into the usual drivel about "lefties" or Democrats as traitors. No doubt DEI has far outlived any usefulness it might have had and should go. Regulatory capture is an phenomena that that is always present in any governmental unit and should be avoided at all costs. Real change that we find discussed in these columns , however, is more likely to occur by a coalition of the unwilling, both right and left. A group of those who care more about improving our defense rather than pillorying Biden, Obama or the Democrat du jour. Instead too much talk about being a patriot. Saying you are a patriot is like saying you are cool, if you have to say it, you aren't.
You cannot rebuild a rotting ship of state unless you name and point out all the termites and their spawn that have receded into the woodwork to continue chewing away at the ship of state. If you call that "pillorying" then so be it. It needs done. Traitors and their acolytes need continued naming and shaming until they meet their proper justice so as to terrify future generations from ever trying it again. The Tree of Liberty is also watered by the blood of its traitors.
A law, attributed to John O'Sullivan and Robert Conquest, is clearly relevant: "Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing." This transformation happens particularly rapidly when there is a leftist idea at the core, as was clearly the case with WPS. Noem, Waltz, et al piled up the kindling, and doused it in gasoline: Biden et al gleefully threw on the lighted match.
Conquest's 3rd law is also relevant here: "The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies." That is sadly very accurate with respect to the NWC (and the academies).
Not meaning to be crude or disrespectful. I don't follow pop culture. This is Div Thursday. First thing I saw was the image of a woman with WPS overlaid on her forehead. While I'm not dyslexic, I saw "WAP" and thought of "Cardi B". Don't google it, please. I knew this was going to be a trip through the gutter. Our host did the forensic sussing to shine a light on this issue. Appreciate that. May the cockroaches scatter.
The rot runs deep. It will take a generation to root it all out because it is now embedded within secondary, post secondary school, university systems as well as the medical schools and law schools across the country.
This DEI program has been going on within the FAA and other agencies as well. Here is a link to the FAA counterpart.
I discussed this with the chief researcher on this report and gave her a lot of research literature on gender occupation choices men and women make. The top 20 most dangerous jobs in America are staffed with 95% men. Some occupations are 99.9% male. But never let a good DEI program go to waste.
Interesting that after 40 years of females in naval aviation and 25+ years flying aboard carriers the women cannot crack 7% of the aircrew mix. Why? Women's choice. You have to volunteer to fly. And most don't. But heck, whine and stuff it down our throats some more.
Thank you very much for your continued efforts to expose this, basically, rot. I don't understand, at all. Are these people that actually hate the idea of defence? Or in what world do they live? Are they stuck at kindergarten level development? Unless they're actually enemies of the state, in bulk, nothing of this makes sense, unless again, they live at 5-6 year old levels.
As I am sure you are sadly aware, this did not start in 2017, but more than a quarter-century earlier, with DACOWITS.
I confess I'd never even heard the acronym until after Tailhook '91, at which point, suddenly...there they were, firmly in the saddle (insert your own joke here).
I remember encountering some DACOWITS firebrands back in 1979 and 1987. ***shiver*** The 1987 encounter wasn't so bad. When she was fired they gave me her job. They gave my old job to a stellar officer & lady, a naturalized American citizen born and raised in Spain. She went on to become a Navy doctor. The lady I relieved got separated after not promoting to O-4. "Meritocracy Navy is best Navy."
Being married to a now retired O-6 gave me some insight into the "Old Navy". The USN didn't really know what it wanted from the 1100/GenURL community and there really wasn't much career planning (it was expected women would marry and be separated). In those days joint duty was considered "women's work" in the nav, and I think she was a queen of joint, not by choice. Like expressed in the post, DACOWITS probably was needed when it was founded, but became an end in itself.
"In those days joint duty was considered "women's work" in the navy..."
Ironic considering the changes that came in with Goldwater-Nichols. Today she'd probably be CNO! :-)
Funny thing is the opposite crew on my ustafish was first commissioned as an 1100, and had been assigned to an aviation squadron. He got into the nuclear power program, and ended up as a boat CO. Now he's SES on the OPNAV.
The "Old Navy". When I came in the old navy was squared away BM2's with 4 hashmarks on their sleeve who talked about how better it was before the UCMJ when they had "Rocks & Shoals". It was the crowded after head on my DE with 4 toilets so close together that you rubbed hips and knees with the other 3 relieving themselves. And the old-timers would tell of the old sea privvies that were seawater troughs that carried away "your business" downstream in good weather but sloshed in heavy seas or had pranksters making paper boats that they'd set afire and send downstream like tiny fire ships. It was men sporting Korean War and a few with WWII ribbons. The officers I served with had no warfare pins. Those were for Aviators and Submariners. SWO pins came in the mid-70s. Before the SWO pins I'd hear officers talking about "girls" in reference to other officers. "Girls", I discovered, were 1100/GenURL officers..."GURL's". But they were mostly "girls". During my service the old navy, for me, was back when messcooks peeled potatoes. That era ended with that cursed Extruded Potato Machine and those damnable powdered potatoes that tasted like cardboard were foisted upon the fleet by some McNamara acolyte. I'd be real pleased if 20 years from now some Chief could tell me what his idea of the "Old Navy" is and it wasn't some kind of Lovecraftian horror. I am wishing MAGA well.
We became the Patsy Schroeder Navy. Remember her and her one woman jihad against the Navy which folded like a cheap camera? The brass threw the pilots who won desert storm under the bus.
Oh yeah. I remember her well, and I remember the whole goatrope as well. Especially since I was working at NAVAIR at the time!
In fairness, "the brass" threw one of their own under the bus as well: the first guy to get the chop was Larry Elberfeld, the PMA for the A-12 program, whose aide caused the whole thing to blow up in the first place.
I also remember one of the aviators--can't remember who--telling me that when "the brass" told him his choices were retirement or a general court, his answer was, bring it on. Their response? Eeh...never mind.
Wow.
CDR Sal, thanks for doing the repulsive task of unplugging the stopped latrine toilet in full view of the installation manager to highlight how bad things still are. Money quote for me: "Those on the struggle bus need to master the fundamentals and work harder." We've been on the struggle bus for a couple of decades, but mistakenly thought we were "the cock of the walk, but were going to end up a feather duster." (Tina Turner, from a Mad Max Movie). Great quote, but she would be immediately dismissed from the NWC faculty if she had said it. The rot is deep.
I saw all the yahoo headlines talking about SecDef ending a Trump military program that advanced women. I knew there had to be more to it. Three things:
1. ..."and we need to broaden the aperture by which we, as an institution of higher learning, examine and affect our dynamic and uncertain world." What kind of clown uses the phrase "broaden the aperture...." I guess maybe I'm just a bad person but when I see that phrase my only response is along the lines of "BOHICA." Sorry. Stop broadening apertures.
2. Also.... anything said by Jeannie Shaheen just needs to be disregarded. She's been bouncing along in her own little struggle bus for decades trying to keep up with people who have room temperature IQs.
3.. And lastly, does WPS have much to say for how to deal with the wimmens and helpless little girls who are feeding ammo boxes to their fellas blowing our troops to kingdom come during a battle? Just wondering if that's part of their lesson plans. Gonna go get another cup of coffee.
Delta Bravo: The "broadening the aperture" metaphor extends the metaphor of viewing issues through "a lens." Whenever some pompous nitwit tells you that her or she is "viewing [insert hot button issue here] through the lens of [inert whacky ideology here], that person is admitting to being non-credible.
So you're saying I wasn't wrong then. LOL
Incisive, succinct, keepin' it real. Not wrong.
Delta Bravo: Indeed.
The SECDEF should issue an order stating that WPS as it is currently configured is incompatible with the equal protection clause of the 14the amendment and halt it not just minimize it
No doubt the left will go shopping for an Obama appointee to overrule Pete. Let them.
The Left elite thinks they have won whenever a like minded judge over rules the administration in favor of illegal alien criminals. In fact, they are making Americans aware of how hostile they are to the people. Let them do the same with diversity.
Many thanks for clarifying the WPS mess. Not the perspective being promulgated by the lefties and media. Here I was thinking I could not become more ashamed of the NWC.
Does this mean that Hegseth has to give up his makeup room to put on his warrior paint? A serious topic descends into the usual drivel about "lefties" or Democrats as traitors. No doubt DEI has far outlived any usefulness it might have had and should go. Regulatory capture is an phenomena that that is always present in any governmental unit and should be avoided at all costs. Real change that we find discussed in these columns , however, is more likely to occur by a coalition of the unwilling, both right and left. A group of those who care more about improving our defense rather than pillorying Biden, Obama or the Democrat du jour. Instead too much talk about being a patriot. Saying you are a patriot is like saying you are cool, if you have to say it, you aren't.
You cannot rebuild a rotting ship of state unless you name and point out all the termites and their spawn that have receded into the woodwork to continue chewing away at the ship of state. If you call that "pillorying" then so be it. It needs done. Traitors and their acolytes need continued naming and shaming until they meet their proper justice so as to terrify future generations from ever trying it again. The Tree of Liberty is also watered by the blood of its traitors.
My, my. Thank you for making my point.
The democrats are traitors.
"Does this mean that Hegseth has to give up his makeup room to put on his warrior paint?"
Why no, of course not! As SecDef not only does he get to keep it. But he also gets a warpaint specialist makeup artist.
The previous SecDef
1. Followed Biden's orders to withdraw from Afghanistan in a haphazard manner.
2. Said there was no airlift available only to be overridden by Miley during the 1st Afghanistan press conference
3. Failed to change the withdrawal ROE thus killing 13 Americans.
4. Abandoned dozens of working dogs to a society that despises dogs.
5. Failed to ensure 100% of the equipment left behind was thoroughly de-militarized.
6. Killed nine innocent Afghan civilians as retaliation.
7. Disappeared and deliberately circumvented the reporting process.
He still got to keep his job. Nah, not partisan at all. While you hypocritically pillory Hegseth yourself.
A law, attributed to John O'Sullivan and Robert Conquest, is clearly relevant: "Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing." This transformation happens particularly rapidly when there is a leftist idea at the core, as was clearly the case with WPS. Noem, Waltz, et al piled up the kindling, and doused it in gasoline: Biden et al gleefully threw on the lighted match.
Conquest's 3rd law is also relevant here: "The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies." That is sadly very accurate with respect to the NWC (and the academies).
I wonder why Pete hasn’t fired the superintendents of the five service academies.
Not meaning to be crude or disrespectful. I don't follow pop culture. This is Div Thursday. First thing I saw was the image of a woman with WPS overlaid on her forehead. While I'm not dyslexic, I saw "WAP" and thought of "Cardi B". Don't google it, please. I knew this was going to be a trip through the gutter. Our host did the forensic sussing to shine a light on this issue. Appreciate that. May the cockroaches scatter.
The rot runs deep. It will take a generation to root it all out because it is now embedded within secondary, post secondary school, university systems as well as the medical schools and law schools across the country.
This DEI program has been going on within the FAA and other agencies as well. Here is a link to the FAA counterpart.
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/committees/documents/media/WIAAB_Recommendations_Report_March_2022.pdf
I discussed this with the chief researcher on this report and gave her a lot of research literature on gender occupation choices men and women make. The top 20 most dangerous jobs in America are staffed with 95% men. Some occupations are 99.9% male. But never let a good DEI program go to waste.
Interesting that after 40 years of females in naval aviation and 25+ years flying aboard carriers the women cannot crack 7% of the aircrew mix. Why? Women's choice. You have to volunteer to fly. And most don't. But heck, whine and stuff it down our throats some more.
Thank you!
Thank you very much for your continued efforts to expose this, basically, rot. I don't understand, at all. Are these people that actually hate the idea of defence? Or in what world do they live? Are they stuck at kindergarten level development? Unless they're actually enemies of the state, in bulk, nothing of this makes sense, unless again, they live at 5-6 year old levels.
Speechless! My new favorite quote: “Winners have the luxury of vanity. Those on the struggle bus need to master the fundamentals and work harder.”