To prove once and for all-that overseas basing does not require building an exchange, a commissary and a clinic.
SINGAPORE — The Singapore military has agreed in-principle to allow the U.S. Navy to deploy up to four littoral combat ships to the city-state on a rotational basis.
The announcement came Saturday after a meeting between Singapore’s Defense Minister Ng En Hen and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a meeting of regional defense leaders here.
Sounds great doesn't it? But leave it to good old mother Navy to fuck up a good deal:
The LCS will not be based or homeported in Singapore and U.S. crews will live on board the ships for the duration of their deployment, the joint statement said.
Note to Sailors on those LCS's-find your counterparts on the other crew, make a written agreement-and then go find a Singapore real estate agent and find a small clean apartment that can be rented to foreigners. Take turns living in it when you re in port-and durng the leave rotations, find a nice, shapely, Filipina girl friend maid to keep it clean and have a great time………Oh right-you will have to be back aboard every night at midnight, so you can get breathalyzed. Never mind.
Seriously-the Navy is blowing a good opportunity here to bolster retention, make Sailors happy, and build inroads in a strategically located nation. And they would not have to build one extra building of infrastructure. Quality apartments already exist, plenty of shopping, good medical care, high quality international schools-all it would take is for you fucking skinflints in Big Navy to pay a lot of COLA , school tuition and OHA. How hard is that? It is still cheaper than exchanges, commissaries, GS's, and DODDS teachers.
Sounds like the watch word of the LCS program-missed opportunities. AGAIN.