Jummy Obama

Gird Your Loins USA

Everything I've read today so far screams JIMMY CARTER YEARS.  Gas prices skyrocket, even as the economy tanks.  Jummy Obama tells Benjamin Netanyahu that he'll wait till year's end  to see if his pretty-pleasing causes Iran to give up the nukes.  (Not for the first time, I have this Team America clip running through my head.)  By the end of Carter's term, our military was in such bad shape that we couldn't relieve patrolling carriers without transferring the aircraft - there weren't enough for two!  Here's the talk at the O Club this morning.  Yes, I'm drinking at 7 AM! “ 3dc  From Galrahn: The Navy estimates it will need a total of $163 million to repair the cruiser Port Royal, which ran aground Feb. 5, as well as the attack submarine Hartford and the amphibious transport dock New Orleans, which collided March 20 in the Strait of Hormuz. But the Senate Appropriations Committee plans to fund only $155 million in ship maintenance in the supplemental. The Navy would need a total of about $580 million to erase its current maintenance deficit of $417 million and pay for the repairs to its three damaged ships. The math suggests the Navy is in the red $163 million last year on maintenance costs. I think the Navy has a serious problem, and I think it is time to ask tough questions. OldSpook  3dc, I posted something here a while back that said preventative Maint had become a critical issue for the Navy, and if I remember correctly, Pappy said that was his observation as well. Our navy is becoming the old Soviet Navy - good ships but allowed to rust and fall apart thru crappy main funding and execution. Pappy   Let's try again: 1. Little littoral/coastal experience. 2. Little or no close-together operations. 3. High-tempo deep-water ops with few or no port visits. 4. Deferred maintenance 5. No sense of 'ownership' by crews. 6. Over-reliance on technology. 7. Reduced crews. 8. Multi-missioning ships but not providing support. 9. A Navy Command based on a business-model rather than a warrior-model. 10. Low morale in the Surface Warrior community. 11. Pressure to purple-suit (joint command) over learning one's trade. 12. Pressure to place demographics as a higher priority when selecting for command and promotion. 13. Pressure to be 'degreed' rather than knowing one's trade. 14 Pressure to be a manager rather than a leader. 15. Uncertainty for both enlisted and officer careers, especially in Reserves. 16. Navy Command in a state of flux; no clear, consistent leadership. 17. Procurement and acquisition. 18. Congress' traditional inconsistency and meddling with regards to funding, procurement and acquisition. 19. The current war. 20. No clear direction and support from National Command Authority. ” If this history keeps repeating itself, the big question will be, "who's the Ronald Reagan to save us this time?"