Something that occurred to me-and has bothered me for a long time, is the idea that somehow one generation of serving military is somehow superior to another.
I hate to break it to you-but in the Navy, for a LONG TIME, a lot of great Sailors were out there doing the nation’s business. Long before yellow ribbons were in fashion, Sailors were on station-in hazard like LT Silberman, and showing up for watch, for work, for a brief, or for an UNREP or General Quarters.
One particular thing that REALLY bothers me-and military people of the later generations are sometimes guilty of this- is the disdain that some of the current generation hold the Sailors who manned the fleet during the 1970’s. The popular perception is , not unlike some people feel about folks during the Vietnam era, is that we were all drug addled, pleasure seekers-who were somehow inferior to the new “greatest generation”
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!. It is just not true. I’ll let you in on a secret-95%+ of the people on active duty during those years-showed up for work on time, got underway when they were supposed to, and spent a lot of time at sea showing the flag for the United States and launching aircraft, driving ships, or submerging in defense of the United States. I’ll bet if I had the stats- the number of mast cases and other leading indicators was the same or lower. Sure drugs were an issue-but the Navy is a reflection of the nation. And that was the nation then.
And some of them did not come back.
That’s not to diss on the contributions that our Soldiers and Sailors, Airmen and Marines have made in the first decade of the 21st century. But I’m here to tell you that the Sailors of the 70’s worked pretty “f-ing” hard then too-and many of the innovations and safety procedures that today are taken for granted-were bought with their blood.
I made my first embarkation on a Navy ship in 1976-and while there were problems in those days, the USS Paul Foster never missed a commitment during the time I was aboard her. Neither did the USS Nimitz or about every other ship in the Navy in those days. And there were a lot more Sailors and ships.
I’m just saying-everybody works hard.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Congress had concerns about discipline in the Navy even at that time. Following what were basically mutinies aboard USS KITTY HAWK and USS CONSTELLATION, the Special Subcommittee on Disciplinary Problems in the US Navy made the following observations:
1. The subcommittee finds that permissiveness, as defined on page 17679 of this report, exists in the Navy today. Although we have been able to investigate only certain specific incidents in depth, the total information made available to us indicates the condition could be servicewide.
2. The vast majority of the Navy men and women are performing their assigned duties loyally and efficiently. The subcommittee is fully aware and appreciative of their efforts. The cause of concern, however, rests with that segment of the naval force which is either unable or unwilling to function within the prescribed limitations and up to the established standards of performance or conduct.
4. The statement that riots, mutinies and acts of sabotage in the Navy are a product of “the time” is not valid. If those in positions of authority who profess such arguments really believe them, they have been negligent in not taking proper precautionary action to prevent to occurrence or to deal with such once they did occur. It is incredible that the Navy was totally unprepared to cope with such incidents as occurred aboard Kitty Hawk and Constellation. In view of the disturbances in recent years in the other military services, the Navy appears to have indulged in wishful thinking, apparently believing that the similar incidents would not happen aboard ship.
9. The generally smart appearance of naval personnel, both afloat and ashore, has deteriorated markedly. While the subcommittee appreciates efforts to allow maximum reasonableness in daily routines, there is absolutely no excuse for slovenly appearance of officers and men in the Navy uniform and such appearance should not be tolerated.
17. The investigation disclosed an alarming frequency of successful acts of sabotage and apparent sabotage on a wide variety of ships and stations within the Navy.
Although this report appeared in 1972, it probably reflected the attitude of many toward the military’s effectiveness not only now, but at that time as well.
We are not necessarily in disagreement The vast majority of the Navy men and women are performing their assigned duties loyally and efficiently.
The Navy was the enlistment of choice if you did not want to get drafted into the Army. Furthermore-1972 was a time when optempo was pretty high and ships were doing 5 month turns and getting sent right back out again.
Remember too that drug testing was not yet mandatory and the 4th amendment was still taken pretty seriously. Admiral Hayward instituted them when he was CNO and they survived Supreme Court challenges. That made it a lot easier to dump the bad folks-as did project upgrade. Zumwalt could have done that-but was trying to find a middle ground. I happen to think he had right ideas-but he had a poor way of executing it that undercut the authority of the CO’s.
I’d suggest reading the book Stolen Valor and also Zumwalt’s book, On Watch.