Posted on 06/09/2014 11:26:01 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
This generation is going to have to study war some more, alas.
Even admirals today don’t seem to know how it works outside their politically corrected service academies.
Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, commented the other day that — wait, they assign admirals as flacks now? Isn’t that expensive?
Anyway, Rear Adm. Kirby doesn’t think the American military leaves anyone behind.
“When you’re in the Navy, and you go overboard, it doesn’t matter if you were pushed, fell or jumped,” he said the other day in justifying the prisoner exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. “We’re going to turn the ship around and pick you up.”
Well, yes, that happens in the movies. Maybe the new Navy is more capable, but the “man overboard” drills in which I participated aboard the old U.S.S. Ranger were not confidence-producing.
Petty officers would mock the official concern by saying that in actuality as soon as we hit the water the Navy would wire our parents to advise them we had drowned on an unauthorized swim.
As a reality check, imagine how today’s three-star Pentagon spokesman might try to explain the culmination of an operation in which the United States lost more than 30 percent of its combatants. That was typical in World War II, Korea and Vietnam; they called them victories.
The admiral nonetheless fantasizes that his Navy is spinning about in the world’s oceans picking up overboard sailors (depressingly common).
The vision belies military reality. There is more to war than Hollywood scripts commanding division-level attention to the rescue of last surviving sons (“Saving Private Ryan”) and artistic masterpieces (“The Monuments Men”).
My father is one of the only U.S. Naval aviators to survive a catapult failure during a carrier takeoff in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It was unusual enough to have been written up in Time magazine. That was because the others were killed by the crash, drowned, were chewed up by the screws or lost at sea as the fleet sailed by them to its battle station.
Moreover, when his night-fighter squadron went out on a mission, it was understood that if enemy submarines came into the area the fleet would turn off its lights. That could mean the death of dozens of aviators who would have to ditch as they ran out of fuel circling the carrier if they could even locate it — and that was after successfully completing even the most dangerous of missions.
So, does Adm. Kirby mean we should keep the lights on for a Sgt. Bergdahl?
We of the old Navy fear that is exactly what he means.
“Well, yes, that happens in the movies. Maybe the new Navy is more capable, but the “man overboard” drills in which I participated aboard the old U.S.S. Ranger were not confidence-producing.”
As with so many things, a drill is one thing, and the real thing quite another.
We had a man go overboard off the stern of an AE on the way out of Subic Bay, almost to open water. We had to put the motor whale boat in the water and launch a helo, but we picked him up.
What is ironic is the United States has paid a heavy price to make sure Bergdahl was not left behind. The irony is Bergdahl may walk from one his old captivity in Afghanistan to his new captivity in Leavenworth.
The Old Navy referred to here realizes that the senior officer selection board usually functions as an excellent “turd strainer” preventing further advancement for said turds. However, sometimes mistakes are made, as in the case of a man named Zumwalt.
Lib-logic now infects the US military. The analogy clearly does not apply here. How many sailors go AWOL by jumping overboard in the middle of the ocean? The number who do and live to tell the tale must be pretty close to zero.
A better analogy might the answer to the question, "over the last 237 years, how many soldiers and sailors has the US military hanged for desertion in wartime?"
I think the bigger take away is that we don’t jeopardize the mission over the life of one soldier/sailor/airman/marine. Lots of warriors died to capture those five men and even more died looking for him.
I think it’s illogical to expend men when you’ll give up any gains over the life of one deserter.
“Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, commented the other day that — wait, they assign admirals as flacks now? Isn’t that expensive?”......
Well, there is nothing else for him to do since odumbo is downsizing our military and there are no surface wars to fight.
“Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, commented the other day that — wait, they assign admirals as flacks now? Isn’t that expensive?”......
Well, there is nothing else for him to do since odumbo is downsizing our military and there are no surface wars to fight.
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