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> the overwhelming workload and lack of resources provided to the US Navy If you think it's bad now, wait until there's a war. The military needs to be able t
by pdonis 5y ago
> the overwhelming workload and lack of resources provided to the US Navy
If you think it's bad now, wait until there's a war.
The military needs to be able to operate under conditions of overwhelming workload and lack of resources, because that's what it will be like if it ever actually has to fight.
> If someone is working over 100 hours per week, if they can get a break by cutting training
Then someone has the wrong definition of "training". Training is properly done as part of actual operations. You don't "train" to do something and then do it. You train by doing it, while others more senior to you are watching you while they're doing their part of the operations. For example, the officers who made the bad decisions that caused the collisions you refer to should have been training on ship handling and navigation as part of transiting the ship from place to place, routinely. You shouldn't have to set aside special "training" time for those things.
Firefighting is actually an exception to the above rule, for obvious reasons, so there is a good reason to have special training time for that. But you can do that while other things are going on as well.
> when the choice is product or training, many managers will cut the latter
Your use of the word "managers" suggests to me the root cause of the problem: our military doesn't need "managers", it needs leaders. You don't "manage" a military organization; you lead it. And the collisions several years ago and this fire point to a lack of leadership in our military.
- dctoedt 5y ago> our military doesn't need "managers", it needs leaders. Funny, that's exactly what I said 40-plus years ago when I got out. (Naïve youth that I was, I even wrote a letter to Admiral Rickover about it; IIRC, the response was a bland thank-you letter from some functionary — but Rickover was famous for having said about certain managers, there but for the grace of God goes God.)
- pdonis 5y ago> that's exactly what I said 40-plus years ago when I got out. I saw many of the same problems when I was in the Navy 30-ish years ago. But some seem to have gotten worse; from the report to Congress that was linked to upthread, what jumped out at me was the increasing micromanagement from flag officers and the lack of teaching basic ship handling and warfighting skills.
- wolverine876 5y ago> Then someone has the wrong definition of "training". Training is properly done as part of actual operations. You don't "train" to do something and then do it. You train by doing it, while others more senior to you are watching you while they're doing their part of the operations. I have a hard time understanding that. We all know that enormous amounts (maybe most) training is done outside actual operations, both in the military and otherwise. Obviously you are aware of that, so do you mean this in a specific context? Is the US Navy somehow different (and are you in the USN)?
- pdonis 5y ago> We all know that enormous amounts (maybe most) training is done outside actual operations The fact that this happens to be the case now does not mean it's right, or that it was always done this way. > Is the US Navy somehow different I would imagine that all branches of the US military have similar issues, but the article that prompted this thread only discusses the Navy. > (and are you in the USN)? I was, years ago, but I'm not now.