Back on the good side of the international date line. Trip back was not too bad, the flight from LAX on Singapore Air was not so full and the food was pretty good and drink service plentiful. Next time US airlines want to know why they are having problems-they should look at SINGAIR. Sevice still seems to matter there.
The US Navy released a long list of flag officer assignments last week. In the flurry of activity in shopping mall USA, I seemed to have missed it. Two of them jumped out at me:
Rear Adm. (lower half) Kevin M. Donegan is being assigned as commander, Carrier Strike Group Five, Yokosuka, Japan. Donegan is currently serving as director, Strategy and Policy Division, N51, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.
That is interesting because of the “I wonder where (fill in the blank) will go now” types of questions it will generate. Kid Donegan is a former CO of USS Coronado and USS Carl Vinson if memory serves-where I think he relieved the same guy he will relieve here.
That is the understandable news. Then comes the assignment that just is really hard to comprehend:
Rear Adm. (lower half) Earl L. Gay is being assigned as deputy chairman, Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, Washington, D.C. Gay is currently serving as commandant, Naval District Washington, Washington, D.C.
Call me silly-but this requires a flag officer exactly why? Seems to me that is overkill unless this is a collateral assignment-and if it is, why announce it as something its not?
Try telling me again the Navy does not have too many flag officers. Things like this make it hard to believe.