Proceedings Podcast Ep. 247: A Slavish Devotion to Forward Presence Has Nearly Broken the U.S . Navy
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ธ.ค. 2021
- Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work joins hosts Ward Carroll and Bill Hamblet to discuss his hard-hitting article for the American Sea Power Project.
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My assessment absolutely tracks with that of Secretary Work. The surface fleet is NOT ready for war, and many past incidents and deaths of naval personnel have clearly signaled that. Forward Presence is not preparation for war, it is "show and tell." The issue crosses all branches of the armed forces. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard should be operating daily on a war tempo -- all action in preparation for defensive and offensive operations. "You can't do that", they say. "The force would collapse." No it will not, because we HAVE done it successfully for decades in a major way. From 1947 to 1992, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) operated on a 24/7 war footing with the motto "Peace Through Strength," and the Strength was instant preparation, training, and readiness for War, including wartime reconstitution and maintenance of forces. Personnel standards of accountability, discipline and performance of duty were very high. Officer or enlisted, if you didn't perform to SAC's war readiness standards, you were immediately discharged. The Russians were well aware that SAC and it's nuclear missiles and bombers were war ready maintaining peace. After 1992 when SAC was decommissioned and STRATCOM assumed its responsibilities, nuclear incidents and force readiness problems started from "a failure of leadership and a significant erosion of nuclear expertise," among other readiness issues outlined in investigations. All military services should adopt a SAC readiness posture to ensure their readiness for War, not Forward Presence. Personnel join the military to train and prepare for war -- they want the challenge and the mission. We need to be on a War Footing, the only way to truly discover our gaps and weaknesses, and to learn our systems with more urgency. The war footing should also extend to acquisition, development and production of military systems. In WWII, we built 50 aircraft carriers in 16 months. Now we can't build one in less than five years, which means our forces will not be reconstituted after losses. When we go to war today, we go with what we have, and when we lose it, the war is probably over minus a miracle.
Mooch, thanks for presenting this subject.
I would argue that service chiefs do get a vote on service employment, and I would say it is the unique responsibility of the CNO to make it clear to the other Joint Chiefs and the Combatant Commanders what level of force the Navy can provide without breaking it. I agree with Secretary Work that the Navy doesn't say no enough and we (the Navy) bear the responsibility for breaking the force.
I was so confused about allergies in the middle of the ocean, it was probably because the ship was too clean.
That messenger ping is as annoying as a cellphone ring during a briefing.
How could anyone claim to know naval warfare and not recognize that the U.S. with vast oceans on both coasts and with the principal purpose of trade protection would ever have any other choice than adopting a forward presence?
Just have msc civilian mariners operate and maintain the ships with a small naval contingent for weapon systems. Look at the Ponce. Msc ships were once navy operated with less underway hours, more manning, and greater expense..
Time to charge non-NATO member tuition or operational expenses when they request our help. Bahamas flagged ship defended....$$$$ in a bill submitted. You can pat to fly a US flag, or you can take your chances the Bahamas have pid up their bill from the last time.....
Bretton Woods is dead, it died when the wall came down. We provided a service for more than half a century, make that service obvious and plain to those outside NATO and the Pacific Quad. Those fees would maybe allow for an extra "Merchant Protection" flotilla to surge for the Redsea events when they happen. Having a sudden pod of Orcas showing up on a hunt is far more threatening than great whites always prowling. Orcas eat the great whites all the time. "Sea Control" is the mission again, Controlling the Formosa strait, CONTROLLING the RED SEA. Pop off rockets as the USA Flag boats? A FLEET, with allied attachments, appears off your shore instead of a couple of destroyers.