Comedies are often far better at revealing subtle truths than are drama; perhaps that’s why good comedies are more rare than good dramas. In a scene in the movie “Major League” the Cleveland Indians, ahead by one run, face a tight situation: runners on, the big Yankee slugger stepping into the batter’s box.
The relief pitcher, “Wild Thing” Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), has had a difficult time with the slugger all season. And, the Indian’s 3rd baseman – Roger Dorn (Corbin Berenson), found out just before the game that Vaughn had slept with his wife. At the critical moment Berenson calls for the ball and walks over to the pitcher’s mound.
The catcher – Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger) figures Dorn is going to deck Vaughn; so does Vaughn. Instead, Dorn walks up to Vaughn, slaps the ball in Vaughn’s glove, and tells him: “Strike this blankety-blank out.”
The movie may seem silly, but that’s how professionals act: they do their jobs, no matter their personal issues.
Last week a report was leaked that contained withheld elements of the investigation into the June 2017 collision of USS Fitzgerald and the merchant ship ACX Crystal. What it revealed was a ship lacking in professionalism in virtually every respect. To the point that the Officer of the Deck (on the bridge, in immediate command of the ship) and the Tactical Action Officer in the Combat Information Center (CIC), weren’t speaking to each other.
There’s more, much more: to include a CIC that: “smelled of urine,” but one remark from the report is telling: “FTZ’s command leadership was unaware of just how far below standards their command had drifted.”
The problem with that statement is that it simply is unacceptable. Not only is it unacceptable that the Fitzgerald’s leadership didn’t understand, it’s unacceptable that the rest of the chain of command didn’t understand.
I suppose that if it were just one thing, one collision, one poorly led and managed ship, it would be possible to simply accept that one bad commanding officer had slipped through the cracks. But this is hardly an isolated incident of a lack or professionalism, whether collisions, groundings, missed yard periods, poor maintenance, broken procurement, etc.
Indeed, there is much more: collisions and near collisions, commanding officers relieved due to loss of trust by their commanders, junior officers getting out of the Navy at higher and higher rates (what do they know that they’re not sharing?), etc. As the GAO reported less than 2 months ago – on the Navy as a whole:
– 70% of scheduled maintenance completed late
– all 8 of the first ship of new classes delivered over the past decade were
delivered behind schedule, more than half by more than 2 years
– six ships of different classes (valued at $6.3 billion) were delivered with incomplete work and quality problems
– F-35 aircraft availability 52% – the goal is 65%
– F-35 aircraft fully mission capable 15% – the goal is 60%
– Zumwalt class destroyer – 3 ships, for $22 billion, and no ammo for the gun
And on and on and on…
Meanwhile, Vice Admiral Brown, Commander Naval Surface Forces, tells us that they’ve fixed the problem in the surface force – in just one year – and that now the Navy is moving toward a culture of excellence. Really? It took 1 year to fix? He installed some new simulators, has contracted to buy some more, and presto! Fixed.
The truth is that the root problem, the one that that results in a commanding officer like the one on Fitzgerald (or USS McCain), or all the other legion of problems throughout the Navy, is a lack of professionalism. These problems don’t simply pop up because of some lousy commanders and captains; these problems begin at the top. As has been said before, a fish rots from the head down.
And that means the 3 and 4 star officers in the Pentagon who make the decisions that lead to new ships, and new weapons, who approve training programs for our sailors and junior officers, who set the standards for selection to command, who oversee our inspections and exercises.
And who, in the end either do or do not stand up to a Secretary of the Navy who spends 8 years running amok.
The Navy has severe problems. And while efforts will be made to address each, the reality is that no meaningful solution is possible without cutting out the rot at the top.
Copyright 2019 Arrias
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