Navy Times: ‘I now hate my ship’: Surveys reveal disastrous morale on cruiser Shiloh
“It’s only a matter of time before something horrible happens,” one shipmate warned.
“Our sailors do not trust the CO,” another noted.
It’s a “floating prison,” one said.
“I just pray we never have to shoot down a missile from North Korea,” a distraught sailor lamented, “because then our ineffectiveness will really show.”
These comments come from three command climate surveys taken on the cruiser Shiloh during Capt. Adam M. Aycock’s recently-completed 26-month command. The Japan-based ship is a vital cog in U.S. ballistic missile defense and the 7th Fleet’s West Pacific mission to deter North Korea and counter ascendant Chinese and Russian navies.
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Update: Shiloh sailors voiced concerns about safety and readiness (Navy Times)
WNU Editor: This took me my surprise .... 'USS Bread and Water': Old and rare punishment loomed over a demoralized crew (Navy Times).
3 comments:
Editor,
Very respectfully this does not surprise me at all. In fact, I've been warning about this here and elsewhere for the last 10 years. The problem is actually much, much worse. I get no pleasure in being proven right.
So much for the absurd notion that the US is some sort of "superpower" or "hyper power." The evidence against such notions piles up more and more by the day.
Unfortunately, as with any ideology, some still cling to this no matter how much evidence is presented. Once someone accepts reality and acts accordingly they can achieve great things. Failing to recornize and accept reality will almost never end well.
This report reflects 3rd moral on 1 ship under 1 ex c.o.
Put another in charge (as per prior results) and problem is largely solved.
Fazman,
The problem is rampant throughout the military. Morale is low, training is poor, and the leadership is atrocious. Simply changing leaders will not solve this problem. I have been warning about this for years and, as stated, I take no pleasure in being proven right.
I did notice that some of these punishments were for being late for duty shifts. If late for one's shift in a time of war, everyone dies!! As such, there obviously had to be some form of punishment.
The problem is, at least partly, that American "millenials" do not have the temperament for war and those who are older are SICK AND TIRED of them seeing them sent on fruitless missions around the world that DO NOT represent American interests and in fact UNDERMINE THEM!! Furthermore these millenials and those of us who care about them are SICK AND TIRED of them being used essentially as cannon fodder and pawns for the interests of others.
There actually is a solution. It can be thought of like the coach of an American football team who has inherited a bunch of players who don't even know the difference between a quarterback and an offensive lineman who don't even have the temperament to want to hit someone. What the coach does in this case is start with the basic. He begins teaching the young men the basics and goes from there. In so doing and assuming he has enough time coaches have taken teams from spring/summer training and by the time the season starts have actually built from the ground up very capable teams.
How this would translate from the vantage point of the US military would be as follows. 1.)The US military is barely capable of doing such basics as defending the US mainland as it is currently constituted. Acknowledge this. Denial of reality is unproductive. 2.)Redeploy all US forces around the world to positions along the borders, off the coasts, and within the nation so that they have at least a fighting chance to defend America which is what most of these people signed up for anyway. 3.)Reorient how money and resources are being spent. For example, why are we investing in the floating death traps of aircraft carriers or the littoral class ships that constantly break down. 4.)From the recent collisions, we can deduce as I long suspected our sailors do not even understand basic navigation. They can best learn this by getting back to basics. Where these collisions occurred were frankly in places the government never should have had them in the first place. 5.)Get back to basics. This can be done. Essentially the US military has to be rebuilt from the ground up. This can be done. There is no reason to fret but first when in a hole STOP DIGGING!!
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