Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Blur
This is a national tragedy, and I couldn't sleep last night thinking of the Sailors who might still be missing.
We are in the midst of an unprecedented problem with the Navy. For decades, we have seen tasking that exceeds our budget, personnel shortfalls, increasing administrative and bureaucratic requirements, and a culture that is willing to accept no failures when it comes to meeting our country's needs. We're proud of our ability as a fighting force to meet the call to action when America or her allies require it. I was onboard one of the ships called to the Korean coast to reassure our regional allies and apply pressure to the North Koreans, and we worked tirelessly to meet operational demands and stay flexible.
I have growing concerns that our shortfalls in logistic and financial support are impacting our training, material readiness, and the quality of product we get out of our Sailors. We can't blame any one person, command, or institution for these challenges, but we have to find a solution that ensures we can be ready to fight. Losing Sailors and ships to incidents at sea reflects on a need to look inward and fight our greatest enemy: ourselves. If we can overcome our shortfalls, we'll be able to grow from this.
For those of you watching, I personally appreciate your investment in our Navy. We work for you. Sailors risk their lives and serve in challenging environments, overcoming personal adversity and unique obstacles only seen at sea. We're different from other forces, and for many of you it can be hard to understand what we do, how we do it, and how it affects our nation. I want to assure you that these incidents will be addressed with care and concern for the wellbeing of our Sailors and our ability to defend freedom and democracy around the world.
If you have questions, I'll do my best to be available to answer them.
—Surface Warfare Officer, LT, USN
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Hey Blur, thanks for that thoughtful post. USN here too, although it's been 17 years. My concern is, i think, somewhat parallel to yours... basically manpower and training which requires $$$. over extended?
to my original post, you have several layers of watches who's primary purpose is the safe navigation of the ship, in less than what, two months all layers of redundancy have failed causing loss of life.
the only explanation i can think of is that everyone on watch is so exhausted, they are asleep. both incidents happened during mid watch....i wonder if drills and lack of manpower etc. is just to much???
if i recall, cargo ships are lit up to all hell, look outs job to report. OJ194 surface tracking collision data is all there. Bridge watch..what 3 to 5 sailors on bridge during mid?
anyway, I just can't fathom the posible reason, other than asleep. I was EW, but do to lack of sailors, was effectively an OS.
one last thought, i know that when entering areas closeto major ports...extra surface tracking watch was utilized, specially at night....anyway, very sad and unbelievable.