I love the callback to the '90s, when every single internet poll, including polls about your favorite ice cream flavor, was won by Ron Paul in a landslide.
I first heard the slogan from the new NRC SEL who just came from Great Mistakes last fall. I felt it stank of management by slogan like TQL and the Five Vector Model. I pointed it out, but he was all in how great it would be.
The back to basics will help, but it seems like sloganeering from an impersonal bureaucracy.
It's interesting to see we are now a "no deficit Navy." (bullet 4 under "Get Real.")
I don't know what that means, and I don't think that, or anything else here, will resonate with a deckplate seaman...or anyone else not on the OPNAV staff.
Looks like a "Look I am really, really working for that exalted place in the Political and Military Industrial job I want and maybe even go on TV!" Mindset.
Then again it looks like Kamala's speech writer was busy in Navy affairs.
Getting Real, Getting Better. Sure. I guess that was the best choice. I took a look at the first round of ideas and here were some of the alternatives:
History does not repeat (exactly) because it can't. But patterns of human behavior most certainly do. Thirty plus years ago, I read "This Kind of War" by T. R. Fehrenbach. One of the chapters is "Proud Legions", (link here, wouldn't be surprised if CDR Salamander already knows and references it: https://erenow.net/ww/this-kind-of-war/25.php ).
TQM, TQL, etc. represent a pattern of human behavior. This is that, on steroids. Proud Legions provides insights about how the Doolittle Board's efforts to bring the U.S. Army into the 20th Century contributed to the early disasters in the Korean conflict. During Korea, they had time (the world moved a bit slower) and a recent national mobilization infrastructure and huge reservoir of experienced personnel to draw on to fix the problems.
We appear to be "racing to the bottom" in both quantity and quality (lack of training hours) for our forces. Most importantly, seriously doubt we will have TIME to correct our deficiencies should another major crisis arise.
I think I see some parallels from 1938-39 to now. Back then some far sighted people could see war was coming. They took small steps, quiet actions to get industry ready to shift to production of war materials. Among those preparations, small machine shops were surveyed to find out what tools and equipment they had and what items they could produce. Today there are orders for enough F-15's to keep the line open. The manufacturer is still accepting orders for F-16's. The F/A-18 factory won't shut down for another few years. F-35's are coming off a production line that still has reserve capacity to shift into a higher gear. KC-46's are getting through low rate initial production and are poised to increase deliveries. Assembly has started for the B-21. I think these are good signs that someone is 'getting ready to be ready'.
"Waste anything but time. Time is a non-renewable resource."
Man, this brings me back to when I was a base-level finance officer and the personnel side rolled out a new system that had never been tested against the ancient, COBOL-based DJMPS system that DFAS owns. Shockingly, all new accessions got completely jacked because there was no automatic transfer of data from personnel systems into pay systems anymore and the Air Force leadership’s response was “well, it should resolve. They can live off savings or go to Air Force Aid for loans”. Good times.
I was manually paying dozens of young airmen for months entirely on my own initiative while fighting the MAJCOM and DFAS for the right to do so. (“You know you are PERSONALLY liable for erroneous payments, right? You might want to think twice before doing this...”)
And when they DID finally access, the pay system would kick out a massive payment for all the back pay while the debt for payments would take weeks-to-months to strike, so their pay would be hosed for another six months. When we tried to publicize the issue among the base populace, we were told to minimize it because it would stress people out because “pay is a life issue”. Oh, really? When WE used that line, you told us to send them to Air Force Aid...
When it comes to pay, they don’t care until it’s the FGO/GO’s aide that’s having issues. THEN it’s all five alarms.
Someone needs to "get better" at spelling. What is an "eduring" warfighting advantage? That got me off to a good start with the poster.
Then I hit this: "... by unleashing our people, not by burdening them with extra requirements, policies, or bureaucracy." Sorry, I can't read more due to the uncontrollable laughter.
I didn't get a chuckle out of anything I read or any video I watched. The only thing that kept me awake was my jaw clenching and that vein on my forehead pulsing dangerously. But I'll admit that I pretty much skimmed everything and might have missed something. Anyone remember ADM McRaven about 8 years back famously advising young people "Make your Bed"? That'd be a good first step. I haven't the gravitas of a SEAL 4-star Admiral, having only clawed my way to the middle (LT) after 26 years, but I offer this, "Stop putting that damn cream & sugar in your coffee". Best I can do on short notice.
I have never in my life seen such a sorry bunch of alphabet salad thrown together. At least the Z grams (which this sort of smacks of) were in English.
The 'Z-grams' were transmitted as 'Personal for...' messages. Many CO's held them close. Treated as classified for them, only! Very few, in the beginning, made it to the deckplates..
I was on CLG-5, 7th Fleet flag ship, when the Z-Grams started rolling out. They got widest dissemination. I was already a Lifer with 5 years in. I recall many of the old salts hated Zumwalt because they thought he undercut their authority by eliminating "Chicken Shit Regs". Liberty cards, civvies and most important "HAR-Cutts". Some of those old salts rolled over and died and went more firmly into the ROAD mode. I mean, there weren't no effing way to lead men who didn't have no buzz cut. IMO, the changes Zumwalt wrought didn't screw up the navy. It was the failure to adapt to change and throwing up your hands and saying "I am being undermined, I quit". Zumwalt got us some huge pay raises. I was PO1 and my pay went from $388.20 to $504.30. Real money back then. Gone were the days of having to be in the undress uniform of the day inport to eat the evening meal, to watch the 8 o'clock flick on the messdecks or to empty trash on the pier. We no longer had to join a locker club ashore to store our civvies. This is the first time I have heard that some C.O.'s withheld Z-Grams. Looking back to that era, I am not surprised.
Anecdotally. I was a member of the First Class Mess aboard CLG-5 in 1970. O Lordy, how those seat-warming pinochle, cribbage and backgammon playing old salts with crewcuts grumbled. They were fine when E-6's got civvie privileges but got apoplectic when that perk got shared with E-5 and below. Now some 5 decades later, change kind of scares me too. I was slow to embrace the computer and still don't own a cellphone. Now, Fundamental Change? That terrifies and disgusts me.
After I saw the title I stopped reading when I saw the quote from Gilday, figuring Div Thursday had arrived early. Then, out of respect for Sal, a few minutes later I picked it up again. But it does kinda have that scolding feel.
I'd suspect some of this is to get ahead of the problem and preempt Congress writing something uncomfortable into the next NDAA when they finally lose patience with the Navy's continuous pay fiascoes. I retired last year and this is a bit dated, but aside from the technical "hiccups" the TSC consolidation placed several more layers of non-responsive bureaucracy between the sailor and whoever is (hypothetically) taking care of them. COs don't have any real leverage over the (mostly civilian) TSC's and the people that do are... well I'm not sure because it's not exactly clear who is actually in charge. However, if a sailor gets into financial trouble (e.g., GTCC unpaid) as a result, they expect COs to be on them like a hobo on a hot dog. Fair enough, so I started including "how to write a letter to your representative or senator" (with a handy word template) and federal law allowing members to claim fee for late payment from the government as part of counseling for pay issues, because there were so damn many of them. I'd assume others are doing the same.
I'd like to see the Commander rip into the uniform stupidity. We can battle with the jarheads over who has the best uniforms, but the fact of the matter is that the traditional uniforms of the sea services are simply the best looking uniforms in the United States. Is Marine dress blue uniform better than the Crackerjack? If it is, it's only by a hair.
Officers and Chiefs at sea should wear pressed, cotton, khaki pants and shirts. Petty officers and below, cotton dungarees. Simple clothing, time-tested, and suitable to life at sea. Freaking Silicon Valley executives pay $1,000 for a chambray shirt, practically the same shirt boots were given with their sea bag. I cannot believe that the goofy gear current sailors wear is more comfortable than the blue jeans and chambray of old.
Gah! Starched and pressed dungarees, shined boondockers and a ship's ballcap. Starched and pressed wash khaki, shined boondockers and a ship's ballcap. I never felt prouder wearing anything else. Crackerjacks were great too as long as they didn't ride up over the belly. Now it's sweatpants, a Duluth Pocket Tee and Crocs. Clothes make the man.
Given the superlative product delivered by the civilians of NAVSEA?
This caught my attention;
"TSCs and Regional Support Centers (RSC)"
What percentage of their manning is done by civilians? And how much overtime are they working? (Why be productive when you can get more $$? And I'll be happy to be wrong on this.)
The first bullet under mindset?
a) from an organization that now sends candidate pictures to boards?
b) from an organization that has 9000 gapped sea billets?
c) from an organization that meet recruiting goals?
I love the callback to the '90s, when every single internet poll, including polls about your favorite ice cream flavor, was won by Ron Paul in a landslide.
Russian bots on dial-up.
I first heard the slogan from the new NRC SEL who just came from Great Mistakes last fall. I felt it stank of management by slogan like TQL and the Five Vector Model. I pointed it out, but he was all in how great it would be.
The back to basics will help, but it seems like sloganeering from an impersonal bureaucracy.
Every time something like this comes out, the deckplate level guys are like, "Oh great, another management fad to make things fun."
It's interesting to see we are now a "no deficit Navy." (bullet 4 under "Get Real.")
I don't know what that means, and I don't think that, or anything else here, will resonate with a deckplate seaman...or anyone else not on the OPNAV staff.
The definition of No is (a negative used to express dissent, denial, or refusal, as in response to a question or request).
deficit: [noun] deficiency in amount or quality. a lack or impairment in an ability or functional capacity. disadvantage.
Navy, noun
All of a nation's warships.
A nation's entire military organization for sea warfare and defense, including vessels, personnel, and shore establishments.
A group of ships; a fleet.
Sounds like CYA and B/S to me with big words.
If I heard that from HQMC Commandant in the Marines it would have gone in one ear and out the other.
Looks like a "Look I am really, really working for that exalted place in the Political and Military Industrial job I want and maybe even go on TV!" Mindset.
Then again it looks like Kamala's speech writer was busy in Navy affairs.
Getting Real, Getting Better. Sure. I guess that was the best choice. I took a look at the first round of ideas and here were some of the alternatives:
Getting Hard, Getting Tough
Getting Pronouns, Getting Respect
Getting Paid, Getting ? err, Food
Getting A Pension, Getting A Beltway Sinecure
Getting A Brown Nose, Getting Promoted
Getting Qualified, Thank God That's Over
You Fly, I'll Buy (my favorite)
History does not repeat (exactly) because it can't. But patterns of human behavior most certainly do. Thirty plus years ago, I read "This Kind of War" by T. R. Fehrenbach. One of the chapters is "Proud Legions", (link here, wouldn't be surprised if CDR Salamander already knows and references it: https://erenow.net/ww/this-kind-of-war/25.php ).
TQM, TQL, etc. represent a pattern of human behavior. This is that, on steroids. Proud Legions provides insights about how the Doolittle Board's efforts to bring the U.S. Army into the 20th Century contributed to the early disasters in the Korean conflict. During Korea, they had time (the world moved a bit slower) and a recent national mobilization infrastructure and huge reservoir of experienced personnel to draw on to fix the problems.
We appear to be "racing to the bottom" in both quantity and quality (lack of training hours) for our forces. Most importantly, seriously doubt we will have TIME to correct our deficiencies should another major crisis arise.
I vote Ron Paul!
"History does not repeat . . ."
But sometimes it rhymes.
I think I see some parallels from 1938-39 to now. Back then some far sighted people could see war was coming. They took small steps, quiet actions to get industry ready to shift to production of war materials. Among those preparations, small machine shops were surveyed to find out what tools and equipment they had and what items they could produce. Today there are orders for enough F-15's to keep the line open. The manufacturer is still accepting orders for F-16's. The F/A-18 factory won't shut down for another few years. F-35's are coming off a production line that still has reserve capacity to shift into a higher gear. KC-46's are getting through low rate initial production and are poised to increase deliveries. Assembly has started for the B-21. I think these are good signs that someone is 'getting ready to be ready'.
"Waste anything but time. Time is a non-renewable resource."
When I read this all it is they tell the Sailor to “fix themselves.” Not leaderships’ problem...
Man, this brings me back to when I was a base-level finance officer and the personnel side rolled out a new system that had never been tested against the ancient, COBOL-based DJMPS system that DFAS owns. Shockingly, all new accessions got completely jacked because there was no automatic transfer of data from personnel systems into pay systems anymore and the Air Force leadership’s response was “well, it should resolve. They can live off savings or go to Air Force Aid for loans”. Good times.
I was manually paying dozens of young airmen for months entirely on my own initiative while fighting the MAJCOM and DFAS for the right to do so. (“You know you are PERSONALLY liable for erroneous payments, right? You might want to think twice before doing this...”)
And when they DID finally access, the pay system would kick out a massive payment for all the back pay while the debt for payments would take weeks-to-months to strike, so their pay would be hosed for another six months. When we tried to publicize the issue among the base populace, we were told to minimize it because it would stress people out because “pay is a life issue”. Oh, really? When WE used that line, you told us to send them to Air Force Aid...
When it comes to pay, they don’t care until it’s the FGO/GO’s aide that’s having issues. THEN it’s all five alarms.
Someone needs to "get better" at spelling. What is an "eduring" warfighting advantage? That got me off to a good start with the poster.
Then I hit this: "... by unleashing our people, not by burdening them with extra requirements, policies, or bureaucracy." Sorry, I can't read more due to the uncontrollable laughter.
I didn't get a chuckle out of anything I read or any video I watched. The only thing that kept me awake was my jaw clenching and that vein on my forehead pulsing dangerously. But I'll admit that I pretty much skimmed everything and might have missed something. Anyone remember ADM McRaven about 8 years back famously advising young people "Make your Bed"? That'd be a good first step. I haven't the gravitas of a SEAL 4-star Admiral, having only clawed my way to the middle (LT) after 26 years, but I offer this, "Stop putting that damn cream & sugar in your coffee". Best I can do on short notice.
I have never in my life seen such a sorry bunch of alphabet salad thrown together. At least the Z grams (which this sort of smacks of) were in English.
Speaking for myself, those Z-Grams were well-received at the deck plate level.
The 'Z-grams' were transmitted as 'Personal for...' messages. Many CO's held them close. Treated as classified for them, only! Very few, in the beginning, made it to the deckplates..
I was on CLG-5, 7th Fleet flag ship, when the Z-Grams started rolling out. They got widest dissemination. I was already a Lifer with 5 years in. I recall many of the old salts hated Zumwalt because they thought he undercut their authority by eliminating "Chicken Shit Regs". Liberty cards, civvies and most important "HAR-Cutts". Some of those old salts rolled over and died and went more firmly into the ROAD mode. I mean, there weren't no effing way to lead men who didn't have no buzz cut. IMO, the changes Zumwalt wrought didn't screw up the navy. It was the failure to adapt to change and throwing up your hands and saying "I am being undermined, I quit". Zumwalt got us some huge pay raises. I was PO1 and my pay went from $388.20 to $504.30. Real money back then. Gone were the days of having to be in the undress uniform of the day inport to eat the evening meal, to watch the 8 o'clock flick on the messdecks or to empty trash on the pier. We no longer had to join a locker club ashore to store our civvies. This is the first time I have heard that some C.O.'s withheld Z-Grams. Looking back to that era, I am not surprised.
It was well received by us at the lowest levels, but hated by the senior enlisted.
Anecdotally. I was a member of the First Class Mess aboard CLG-5 in 1970. O Lordy, how those seat-warming pinochle, cribbage and backgammon playing old salts with crewcuts grumbled. They were fine when E-6's got civvie privileges but got apoplectic when that perk got shared with E-5 and below. Now some 5 decades later, change kind of scares me too. I was slow to embrace the computer and still don't own a cellphone. Now, Fundamental Change? That terrifies and disgusts me.
"still don't own a cellphone."
BZ to the nth degree!
You got me beat. I have a flip phone for work travel; it was that or eat alone on road trips.
After I saw the title I stopped reading when I saw the quote from Gilday, figuring Div Thursday had arrived early. Then, out of respect for Sal, a few minutes later I picked it up again. But it does kinda have that scolding feel.
WTF is right...
I'd suspect some of this is to get ahead of the problem and preempt Congress writing something uncomfortable into the next NDAA when they finally lose patience with the Navy's continuous pay fiascoes. I retired last year and this is a bit dated, but aside from the technical "hiccups" the TSC consolidation placed several more layers of non-responsive bureaucracy between the sailor and whoever is (hypothetically) taking care of them. COs don't have any real leverage over the (mostly civilian) TSC's and the people that do are... well I'm not sure because it's not exactly clear who is actually in charge. However, if a sailor gets into financial trouble (e.g., GTCC unpaid) as a result, they expect COs to be on them like a hobo on a hot dog. Fair enough, so I started including "how to write a letter to your representative or senator" (with a handy word template) and federal law allowing members to claim fee for late payment from the government as part of counseling for pay issues, because there were so damn many of them. I'd assume others are doing the same.
I'd like to see the Commander rip into the uniform stupidity. We can battle with the jarheads over who has the best uniforms, but the fact of the matter is that the traditional uniforms of the sea services are simply the best looking uniforms in the United States. Is Marine dress blue uniform better than the Crackerjack? If it is, it's only by a hair.
Officers and Chiefs at sea should wear pressed, cotton, khaki pants and shirts. Petty officers and below, cotton dungarees. Simple clothing, time-tested, and suitable to life at sea. Freaking Silicon Valley executives pay $1,000 for a chambray shirt, practically the same shirt boots were given with their sea bag. I cannot believe that the goofy gear current sailors wear is more comfortable than the blue jeans and chambray of old.
Gah! Starched and pressed dungarees, shined boondockers and a ship's ballcap. Starched and pressed wash khaki, shined boondockers and a ship's ballcap. I never felt prouder wearing anything else. Crackerjacks were great too as long as they didn't ride up over the belly. Now it's sweatpants, a Duluth Pocket Tee and Crocs. Clothes make the man.
Maybe it hasn't got to the lower ranks, since the Flags can't do it?
Given the superlative product delivered by the civilians of NAVSEA?
This caught my attention;
"TSCs and Regional Support Centers (RSC)"
What percentage of their manning is done by civilians? And how much overtime are they working? (Why be productive when you can get more $$? And I'll be happy to be wrong on this.)
The first bullet under mindset?
a) from an organization that now sends candidate pictures to boards?
b) from an organization that has 9000 gapped sea billets?
c) from an organization that meet recruiting goals?