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Loose Canons
Tar and Feathers for Ray Mabus
A Navy secretary only an Obama would like.
Back in the Reagan days, the phrase “personnel is policy” revealed an insight on how Washington works. Any administration is more likely to succeed if it hires the best people who are ideologically oriented to its goals. If your agenda is radically-liberal, as Obama’s is, you would choose someone like Ray Mabus, a former Mississippi governor, to be your Navy secretary.
Navy Secretary Mabus, like Obama, believes that our armed services are political tools, playthings to be splashed about like toys in a toddler’s bathtub. Yes, they are all too willing to bask in the glories of DEVGRU (aka, SEAL Team 6), but the credit for those achievements is JFK’s, not theirs.
Under Mabus and Obama, our Navy has shrunk to World War I levels, women are serving on submarines and we are spending untold millions or billions on “greening” the navy. The Marine Corps is about to be cut massively and the navy’s shipbuilding program is being delayed, resulting in a force that may be over-stressed or even incapable of doing its job in the next crisis.
Right now we have more admirals than ships. The fleet stands at about 285 ships, down from the Cold War level of nearly 600. We have about 336 admirals. And some of them are interesting picks.
In 1988, according to various sources (including a retired naval aviator very familiar with the details), we were conducting military exercises in the Mediterranean near Italy. An Air Force F-4 took off from Aviano, Italy, and when it had to tank, it joined up with a KC-135. We don’t know if the pilot or WSO noticed the Navy F-14 that followed it off the tanker.
A short while later, when the F-4 approached the USS Saratoga, the pilot of the F-14 asked the carrier what to do and was told he could open fire. With his backseater screaming “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” over the intercom, Lt. (j.g.) Timothy Dorsey intentionally fired a Sidewinder, blowing the F-4 out of the sky. Fortunately, both the pilot and WSO, though injured, survived. Lt. Dorsey, instead of facing attempted murder charges, was grounded. This month, he was promoted to admiral.
Mabus has been busy imposing Obama’s agenda on the Navy without regard to the cost to the Navy’s warrior ethic or to the wellbeing of Navy families. Over the protests of the submarine community, Mabus issued a policy in 2010 that allows women to serve on submarines. The protests were largely from naval officers — and their wives — who objected that the close quarters would inevitably turn the subs into submersible love boats.
The first evidence of the folly of Mabus’s action is the firing of David Turley. Turley was the USS Nebraska’s “chief of the boat,” the senior enlisted man aboard. He was fired for an “inappropriate sexual relationship” with a Naval Academy female midshipman who was assigned to the submarine for a cruise. Yes, if Turley is guilty of that relationship he is guilty of massive stupidity. But this incident foreshadows a degradation of the silent service. People such as Turley are the result of decades of training and experience. How many more will we lose to shipboard flings?
Last May, congressional outrage caused Mabus to reverse his decision to allow Navy chaplains to perform gay marriages.
Mabus has also done his best to convert the Navy to “green energy.” He has pledged that 50 percent of all the energy the Navy uses will come from “green” energy by 2020. He has pledged to use public-private partnerships to purchase a gigawatt of “green” energy, which he said was enough to power the city of Orlando, Florida. Obama took pains to praise him in this year’s State of the Union address.
Last April — on Earth Day, of course — Ray Mabus ordered the “Green Hornet” to take flight. The otherwise capable F-18 had been converted to fly on a fuel brewed from the camelina sativa plant, a weed grown mostly in Canada. (It won’t be cultivated in California because it lacks a sufficient amount of tetrahydrocannabinol to make a secondary market for it in L.A.)
Which of the Obama-connected green grifters will be parts of Mabus’s public-private partnerships? And at what cost? Millions? Billions? Which of the Navy’s real needs will be starved to pay for this nonsense?
The latest Mabus-created controversy resulted from his changing the Navy’s process for naming ships. In the past, ships were named for presidents, our greatest allies (e.g. Winston Churchill), states, cities, and heroes. Last year, Mabus named a ship for Caesar Chavez. For those who don’t remember, Chavez was a political activist for illegal farm workers who played a major role in pushing through the 1986 immigration amnesty.
That outrage quickly subsided, but exploded again when Mabus named a ship for former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords, by all reports, is an admirable woman who has shown courage in her recovery from an assassination attempt. But only Mabus could put her ahead of people deserving of that honor.
Such as Navy SEAL hero Neil Roberts. Remember the Battle of Roberts Ridge? On March 4, 2002, a SEAL platoon was attempting a covert insertion in the mountains of Afghanistan. When their helicopter was about to land, Roberts was standing in the door, ready to leap out. But at that moment, machinegun fire raked the helo, causing the pilot to pull up sharply. Roberts fell out, but his light machinegun didn’t. Left alone and armed with only a pistol and two hand grenades, Roberts engaged the entire enemy force. The relief force found him shot to death.
About the Author
Jed Babbin served as a Deputy Undersecretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush. He is the author of several bestselling books including Inside the Asylum and In the Words of Our Enemies. You can follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (66) | Leave a comment
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c. j. acworth| 2.20.12 @ 6:49AM
Well, I for one am all in favor of a "green navy". If a wind-powered navy was good enough for John Paul Jones, it ought to be good enough for todays forces. Besides, think of all the jobs created by insalling wind turbines on our submarines! And screen doors, too.
Can we PLEASE get to November!
Quartermaster| 2.20.12 @ 8:54AM
OMG = Obama Must Go!
With God all things r possible| 2.20.12 @ 7:05AM
Throw him under the Obama bus!
Roadmaster| 2.20.12 @ 7:20AM
I was P.O.'d when they named a ship for Chavez, but not that surprised because of the blatant pandering to Hispanics it represents. When they honored Giffords, I was flabbergasted! Except for being BFF's with Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz and yes-Girl to Nanny Pelosi (both of which you would have to PAY someone else to), what did this woman do to deserve having a ship named after her, besides take a bullet in the brain from a crazy person?
I live in the district adjacent to Gifford's and know many people there. They'll tell you that Gobby was almost as effective as a congresscreep after being shot as she was before.
Dean| 2.20.12 @ 11:30AM
I recall seeing a Congressional hearing in which Giffords asked General David Petraeus what actions he was taking to reduce the carbon footprint in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mind-boggling . . .
4mike| 2.21.12 @ 1:26AM
Yep i remeber that and the other congress man who asked the admrial if Guam was going to tip over and capsize. Great democrat politicians absolutly brilliant.
capatolistmom| 2.20.12 @ 2:05PM
It's up to you and your fellow great citizens of Tucson to see to it that her replacement is NOT HER OLD Assistant but a fresh conservative. You need to make a BIG STATEMENT!!! I have several friends in Tucson and they are actively working for this to happen. Good Luck!!
Jeremiah Smirking| 2.20.12 @ 7:33AM
Jed, "It's time for congressional Republicans to stand up"? It's well past time. But it's an election year, or it if weren't it would be adjacent to an election year. Whatever excuse can be found to NOT act like men, the majority of Republicans in congress will wuss out, because they're only interested in their jobs, not being leaders. Period. We. Are. Doomed.
SmokeCamels| 2.20.12 @ 7:37AM
He's probably a Jimmy Carter clone waiting to be our next president.
Occam's Tool| 2.20.12 @ 7:22PM
"More ships than admirals." What's wrong with this picture? I can understand a surplus of Admirals in the Navy's Medical Corp, especially as it serves two branches of the military, but wow.
WRTolkas| 2.20.12 @ 7:42AM
This "gentleman" is one of the various reasons why my son will be the first generation of my family since the 1830s that will not have served in the U.S. military. One day soon, we will be caught flat-footed again just like Pearl Harbor or 9-11, and we will see our social engineered military fold up like a cheap cardboard box. Yes Jeremiah Smirking, we are doomed.
Prester John| 2.20.12 @ 8:41AM
When my son returns in June from Afghanistan I am going to do everything I can to convince him to get out (he's an Army reservist) after his commitment is over. I am also going to do the same thing with my nephew who is in the National Guard.
Nothing good will come of anything the current administration is doing to and what the senior miltary leadership is allowing to happen to our armed forces.
Texas Engineer| 2.20.12 @ 8:49AM
Both of my sons left the USN after the way some of these changes hit their rates. Both were seriously considering full career and got out because "they just changed everything for politics sake and the Navy has gone stupid".
SUBVET| 2.20.12 @ 11:28AM
I wonder what Admiral Hyman G. Rickover is thinking from his grave. "Father of the Nuclear Submarine Navy"
Women.......on a pig boat wouldn't have lasted one day on patrol in 1966.
Quote from the movie THE RUM DIARY ....."A liberal is a communist with a mind of a negro".
Moe Blotz| 2.20.12 @ 7:50AM
One good aspect of women serving on ships, the "your turn in the barrel" gig can be eliminated. Walking off your end may become passe' as well.
Pecos Pete| 2.20.12 @ 7:57AM
I served in the U.S. Navy when Eisenhower was Commander in Chief. Ships were mostly WW2 with the USS Nautilus being the first of follow-on nuclear ships. We had Waves serving on shore bases. They were highly capable women. There was no DADT policy. None of the current PC crap. That was the Navy that helped to defeat the Soviet Union.
The current administration, epitomized by Mabus, will sink the Navy and the Marines. We will be back to post-WW1 capability if King O is reelected.
Melvin| 2.20.12 @ 7:59AM
The American public would not believe the horses backsides that gets promoted to flag rank. I like to call them the Velvet Queens who sit in the Pentagon and various plum Naval Stations and play warrior.
These are the guys and galls who sit in power point, after power point after power point demonstrations with rooms filled with monitors, graphs, charts, and the various anal-ysts telling them what they should do.
But these Velvet Queens are not going to make theater decisions that can win a war. Their going to make a safe decision that will advance their career and set them on the road to a Congressional or Senatorial seat, or some other nice cushy Pentagon anal-yst job.
I have absolutely no respect for these inept baboons that somehow glide through the system and get promotion after promotion.
There are Field and a few Flag Grade officers who are worth their fighting salt, but there are damn few of them. And they are being hunted down by the Velvet Queens and eliminated through adverse or sub-par fitness reports, being labeled a non-team player.
The military has been accelerated into a organization of social re-engineering with women now being able to serve Line Companies right along with Males. I shall not get started on that argument, which is another story altogether.
Todays military has to be touchy feely. We have to ask our enemy, excuse me we can't call them our enemy anymore. We ask the insurgent, "What is it about us you are angry about, it is something we said or have done. Would giving you dollars help your anger."
Our military personnel have to stroke the insurgent and make him feel better about himself, because after all he is probably suffering from low self-esteem through all these years of US Imperialism that has kept in downtrodden.
This is the horse squeeze that our men and women in the field have to put up with. How many Americans have been killed needlessly because of some Velvet Queen wanted to play it safe as to not jeopardize his or her career?
People, if you only were aware of half of the bull-squeeze that went on on our Nation's military. I could fill volumes of the downright disgusting crap that I observed.
albert constantine jr.| 2.20.12 @ 8:47AM
Unfortunately, too much emphasis in the officer ranks is placed on preserving one’s career instead of doing the right thing. Those who put the welfare of their troops or even the good of the service ahead of themselves risk not making it to field grade, much less beyond colonel.
Semper Fi.
Mike Hawk| 2.20.12 @ 9:14AM
We had one of those "velvet' flags as a representaive in PA for awhile. Joe Sest-hack fortunately was defeated by Pat Toomey for Senate. Sest-hack was an incompetent Clintonista flag officer and a dedicated Oborg. Good riddence.
Con Chef (NB) | 2.20.12 @ 9:25AM
My Dad retired with his 20 years in at the height of the Clinton Naval Follies. His reason to me at the time, "Sonny Boy, it just ain't fun anymore. Its too damned political."
Occam's Tool| 2.20.12 @ 7:24PM
I thank the Lord every day that I didn't take the Darnell Medical center job. Our Armed Forces are becoming wussified---not the fighting men, but the top Brass.
The Stories that Must be Told| 2.21.12 @ 12:14AM
Melvin, good on ya! Thank you.
We should team together with two dozen other like-minded men to pen and collate real-world zany, self-defeating military stories from the last 20 years.
IT WOULD BE A BEST SELLER.
The barn doors need to be ripped off the hollow military that we now have.
I won't get into it too much, but my latest foray into the ongoing ineptitudes of our military was a E-8 Air Force man I met in a store. He was in uniform so I went to just say hi and offer a word of thanks.
When he was receptive and proceeded to talk some with me, I was initially very happy. But then he kept talking, and I just kept listening. Here and there I would ask a few questions, but he was a talker. His favorite subject: Himself. Suffice it to say (I cannot place here the worthless crap this senior NCO spewed) that this man has cobbled together a 24 year career (to date) that had done all it could to avoid hardship, avoid responsibilities, avoid leadership, avoid deployments, conscious decisions to take a much, much softer MOS -- and he was perfectly comfortable sharing this with me, a complete stranger. He was boasting about the soft path he had chosen and chiseled out, accumulating civilian degree after civilian degree. The theme that popped up again every five minutes were superb career moves he made to better feather his cap and military pension for retirement some time -- planned for -- next year.
I heard nothing in his long statements about leading, shaping the upcoming airmen pushing subordinates hard, pushing himself hard, the true difficulties of management skills, the challenges of deployments round the globe.
What I did hear at times: Office air conditioning issues where he kept going back to for duty tours in Alabama. And the benefits of his last 20 years in a completely office-bound administrative list of jobs.
Oh, also: He was very, very noticeably overweight. (I initially thought he must be a Reservist/Air Guard member -- no, he was active duty) He wasn't just pudgy.
The problem is he is not alone. I've met countless NCOs and officers in all branches who are the same. The central theme is always: Me, Me, Me, My Career, My Retirement, My Free Education while on active duty to take care of Me, Me, My COLA, My Pay Calculations, How does this Job Look on My Resume, Me, Me, Me.
The guys at the top (military leadershits and the civilian brass) know that this is true; they've cultivated this over the last thirty years. And they won't call fire in on it because they are engaged in the same self-focus on a level this E-8 would never comprehend.
Melvin, you don't need me. I have no natural storytelling skills. You; however, can say it like it is. Please compile that book. Let's see this stuff published and out there for the American public.
The ubiquitous self-serving narcissists leave us vulnerable -- today -- to be steamrolled and bulldozed into oblivion.
4mike| 2.21.12 @ 1:33AM
That shit dont fly in the Marines unless your a female. Had a damn 1st Sgt on my last deployment in 10-11 that hadn't deployed before and she was dumb as shit.
Tenstil| 2.21.12 @ 5:48PM
Well, I guess a lot of that, er, cow dung is flying all about in the U.S. Marines then. An awful lot of women in the Corps (past and) presently....
WickedDickie--Virginia| 2.20.12 @ 8:00AM
Shades of Zumwalt. This bum has done more damage to our navy than the Imperial Navy of Japan. You forgot to mention the $26. a gallon biofuel this doofus bought. Not only do we have to rid ourselves of Big Media (BM) created megalomaniac Obama-ayers, we'll have to clean out a huge oversupply of creatures like Mabus and the 100 plus criminals hired by Holder at his Injustice Department. And then, there's Obama-ayers' "point man" for religious persecution in violation of the 1st amendment, Sibelius. Remember in November!
albert constantine jr.| 2.20.12 @ 8:39AM
When you’re heating up the tar, please make sure you save some from the former Secretary of the Navy currently serving in the U.S. Senate, James Webb. As a man who made his reputation largely as an author who wrote obsessively about integrity, he has devolved into a toady and enabler of the Obama Administration. The Navy and the Marine Corps he claims to have loved lay raped, as he has pocketed his pimp’s commission for turning them out. To paraphrase from “Fields of Fire”, time to grow some balls, Senator.
bull-gator| 2.20.12 @ 8:47AM
thank the Lord my youngest son got over the urge to become a Marine Corps officer. I swerved in the Corps and would have been proud to see him serve. but not now, now this time, not in this pc screwed up military. thank the Lord he woke up in the nick of time. I'm sure there are many, many others just like him that have backed away because of this administration's desire to destroy our military and this country. God help us all...
jack anderson| 2.20.12 @ 8:54AM
your article inspires me to re-up! I envision bombarding Liverpool with marshmallows from the deck of the algae powered USS Hugo Chavez!
More admirals than ships eh? Have they repealed Josephus Daniel's stupid regulation yet? I was paid $350 a month to serve on Red Crown, sounds like Mabus's Navy is lots more fun for everyone, even the Middies!!
Don't tread OM| 2.20.12 @ 7:48PM
Yes, what happened to the female tart midshipman? I bet she is now a graduate.
She probably also should have been removed from the service immediately.
The crew have to treat them just as they would a junior officer during this period of their cadet training.
She should be serving Whoppers at an insignificant, landlocked Burger King.
sjccoach| 2.20.12 @ 9:07AM
Mr. Babbin why do you ask the RINOs in Congress to stand up to the president. They never have and they never will. They are the problem they have no spines.
Hal G. P. Colebatch| 2.20.12 @ 9:09AM
Regular readers of TAS know I have written a number of articles on the decline of British armed forces, particularly the Royal Navy. The fact the USN is declining in lockstep with this makes the situation worse for both, and even more unforgivable. The British Royal Navy was once the USN's major ally. Now, with just 19 major surface combatants and no dedicated aircraft carriers or naval aviation, it hardly exists.
Con Chef (NB) | 2.20.12 @ 9:26AM
Yep. Bye-bye Ark Royal. Do you think that the new ship they sent to the Falklands can do the job?
Hal G. P. Colebatch| 2.20.12 @ 10:02AM
Read my article of Feb. 8 on this very subject.
Trw| 2.20.12 @ 11:41PM
Mr. Colebatch, yes, we have been reading. Please keep them coming. We really are absurd to willfully dismantle and rot away seafaring military capabilities and the hard won professions of arms.
What? We are so convinced that satellites roaming above the earth will protect us?
It will always take boots on the ground, weaponry, training institutions, systems platforms, those in the ranks from young, new trainees to old veteran salts, and, yes, ships in the sea.
Freedom requires eternal vigilance, preparedness, soldiers, airmen, sailors, and lots and lots of expensive, maintenance-intensive hardware.
That equation, to protect free peoples, will never ever change.
Thank you, Mr. Babin, for taking this useless very well paid government hack to task. I have respect for the fact that we have civilian leadership of our armed forces (I do think this wise); however, I also know that it is not just the lousy flag officers who have destroyed the world's greatest military that won World War II in JUST!!! 3.6 years!!!!!, the long string of useless, feckless civilian secretaries and assistant secretaries like Mabus (to include Jim "Traitor" Webb) has torpedoed us.
Yes, we are taking on water fast.
Meister | 2.22.12 @ 6:28AM
Yes. The current hype by Argentina is for domestic and regional consumption. They want to further their cause by pressurising and isolating the UK diplomatically. The truth is that Argentina hasn't a hope of regaining the Falklands by force, and they know it.
Meister | 2.22.12 @ 6:47AM
Hal, you are correct up to a point, but the trouble is that the threats the RN was designed to counter hardly exist either. The strength of a navy compared to 20 or 50 years ago is actually pretty irrelevant. What really matters is the ability of the force to meet current defence needs. If the RN doesn't have enough ships, it is to a large extent due to poor planning and management over the last two decades.
There was never going to be enough money to both regenerate carrier strike and have significant numbers of escort ships. They chose carriers and 35-40 destroyers/frigates has become 19. A questionable decision was made and they now have to live with the consequences.
Con Chef (NB) | 2.20.12 @ 9:22AM
This PC crap in the military is nothing new. There has been "diversity training" in the service for quite some time. The beginning of it started some time after Vietnam. Now, this douchebag, Maybus (Gaybus?) is making Zumwalt look like a piker. I'm glad my Dad isn't around to see what's happened to his Navy.
I'll relate this story that my Dad told me about this nonsense.
During Vietnam, my Dad was one of two dentists on the Saratoga on Yankee Station. My Dad lost shipmates & good friends. Guys that flew off the boat & never came back. He also saw some pretty horriffic injuries. After Vietnam, my Dad was stationed at Annapolis. One day, he had the honor of working on Cdr. Jack Fellowes, a former guest at the Hanoi Hilton. He & my Dad got along very well, to the point where they even went & had drinks at the O Club later that evening.
A few weeks later, the word comes down from the powers that be that officers in all depts. were to undergo "sensitivity training." My Dad & Cdr. Fellowes were in the same "class" for this training session. At the front of the room, there was a civilian contractor with a reel to reel tape deck. He then told the assembled officers that this training would involve them having to hear things that they would find offensive & then discuss these things in a "rational" manner. He then played the tape on the reel to reel. The tape was of Hanoi Jane Fonda & her radio broadcasts from Hanoi & some of her more choice anti American screeds. Cdr. Fellowes stood up to leave the room. The civilian then told him that attendence of this class was mandatory & that he would be reported to his superiors if he didn't stay. Fellowes walked quietly to the front of the room, picked up the reel to reel from the table, & smashed it on the floor into a million little pieces. He then told the civilian that he could report him to whoever he wanted. That he would sit Captain's Mast if he had to, but that he WOULD NOT listen to Hanoi Jane (my Dad told me the story with all the good swear words in it, but I'm just posting it in family friendly form). As he walked out of the room, the crowd of assembled officers stood up & clapped for him as he walked out.
This new crap with DADT's repeal & naming ships for every leftist one can think of, regardless of what role that leftist played as an advocate for the Navy. Hell, Murthafurka openly PISSED on his membership of the USMC fraternity by badmouthing the guys in Haditha. Gee, that's quite a switch from naming a carrier for John C. Stennis!
All of this is just another round of different social engineering tactics. So now, in addition to ALL the OTHER sensitivity training our troops undergo so as not to "offend" anyone, they'll have to have THAT MUCH MORE of it. Meanwhile, their force is being hollowed out & their focus on what they should be doing, i.e. drilling in the arts of sea warfare, has been changed to "touchy feely" courses. Freaking sad.
Here's the skinny on Capt. Jack Fellowes (he retired as an O-6):
http://blog.usni.org/2010/05/0.....s-usn-ret/
Occam's Tool| 2.20.12 @ 7:28PM
I'm sure CDR Fellowes was expecting a lecture on being racially sensitive and being sexually appropriate to minorities and women in uniform, and would have stood for that. But making a hero listen to a traitor is ridiculous. You are so right, Con.
Paul Kotik| 2.20.12 @ 9:33AM
Impovershes us, betrays our overseas allies, packs the military command and civilian oversees with apparatchiks, disarms our nuclear forces,neuters our fleet...
What, exactly, would an enemy sleeper agent be doing differently as President from what Barack Obama is doing?
Tommy Frisco| 2.20.12 @ 2:23PM
Paul,
Romney says Obama is just "in over his head." I think even an incompetent person gets it right once in a while. Obama's been on the wrong side of everything he's been involved in. Considering that we still know very little about his past and very few have come forward to say they remember Obama from 20-30 years ago....it sure makes a person wonder.
DT| 2.20.12 @ 8:07PM
Didn't the traitor POTUS give away a place that the Navy Seals use for (I am purposely leaving this out) by going there to offer his congrats (i.e. get his heaping helping of press/media, national attention postive PR) post the Bin L offing? Sort of like the alcoholic J. Biden "gaffe?" about a certain place west of D.C? Aren't these really just little incidents that remind us of what and how they undermine?
jimH| 2.20.12 @ 9:56AM
If we are going to start naming ships after union leaders, how about the Jimmy Hoffa for one of our stealthy boomers. You can't find them either. Or maybe, the Eugene Debs for a carrier. It give new meaning to the term strike mission.
Will| 2.20.12 @ 10:08AM
I imagine this to only be the tip of the iceberg. Heard there are serious problems on USS Ponce, and will bet that it's widespread throughout the services. It used to be that attitude problems and skates spent their time as career mess-cooks and were relegated to running buffing machines in empty buildings until their BCD was ready. Now, they are being installed in leadership posts. Saw part of a documentary on the Military Channel recently, "Baker Boys" or some such thing. Turned it on, just in time to see some asshat out of uniform railing on George Bush, the failed mission in Iraq, "how we bombed mosques, etc." and was instantly disgusted. Always knew that these bastards were among us, never figured they would attain the postions they have.
Fleet Angel| 2.20.12 @ 11:12AM
Not tarred and feathered- keelhauled...
OLDRAY| 2.20.12 @ 11:24AM
Another of Mr Babbin's outstanding articles , Obama is doing everything in his power to weaken and destroy the United States and our friends . He is drastically slashing the strength of our fine Navy, Army and Marine Corps. He is killing our economy and preventing energy independence. Our recently elected republican congressmen ( of whom we expected great things) have turned out to be a timid bunch. The GOP leadership seems bent on giving us another John McCain (who gave us Obama ).. I am sad to read that our Navy is in such poor hands. Thank you Mr Babbin for keeping us informed
Phyllis| 2.20.12 @ 11:37AM
Nostradamus prophet. According to some, the death of one known as "Mabus" will herald some cataclysmic event. The actual mention of Mabus is restricted to C2, Q62 where we see Mabus described:
'Mabus' then will soon die, there will come
Of people and beasts a horrible rout:
Then suddenly one will see vengeance,
Hundred, hand, thirst, hunger when the comet will run.
Frank Marschino| 2.20.12 @ 6:10PM
Phyllis, you are the only one here who was perceptive enough to note the Nostradamus prophecy of "Mabus." Can't believe the author didn't even mention that.
tsd| 2.20.12 @ 12:11PM
Everyday we are moving closer to a time where we will have to stand together toe to toe and shed blood to get back what we have so easily given away .... may god bless all who have and will fight for our freedom. semper fi
Wyoming| 2.20.12 @ 12:25PM
Being in the Navy Reserve I can personally attest to the PC crap our DOD less-than-leadership has foisted on Sailors. A year ago the primary focus of said sadsacks was to ensure a 100% completion of DADT repeal training for all hands. As a senior enlisted leader I was constantly barraged by emails from the powers that be reminding me and my Sailors that disciplinary action would result in failure to complete DADT repeal training. My loyalty and service to the Navy is not what it was five years ago primarily due to the over emphasis on political correctness.
2Anglico| 2.20.12 @ 2:56PM
Tar is a petroleum product, how appropriate.
Dean| 2.20.12 @ 3:25PM
There was one Secretary of the Navy in the late 19th century who was surprised to learn that ships were hollow. If only the current Secretary was that bright . . .
matt smith| 2.20.12 @ 3:54PM
Maybe Jed Babbin can tell us why his boss the check-pants republican George Bush continued the Clinton era policy established by former Navy Secretary Dalton, of allowing pregnant women to serve aboard ship up to their six month? It was George Bush senior who started all this by signing into law the removal of the restriction on women flying combat aircraft. The republicans have either gone along with, or sat on their hands when this stuff happened, so don't expect any changes if a republican gets elected.
Don't Tread| 2.20.12 @ 8:01PM
Women entering our military service academies? Wasn't this Richard Nixon? The implementation (first midshipment, cadets) occurred during Gerald Ford.
We are sold down the river (yes, as slaves and knaves) by MANY, MANY who haven't the foggiest clue as to 1) what they are doing, 2) what is morally correct.
Women in our ranks and all the incremental "new inclusions" bit by bit, new "barriers" broken through.
A nation with 230 million people is morally broken when it needs, pushes, allows, thinks praiseworthy women performing the ugly, gruesome, arduous, toilsome, and, yes, so often completely mind numbingly boring tasks that men should exclusively perform in our military.
Richard Baker| 2.20.12 @ 5:27PM
matt smith:
Agreed. The lunacy comes from both sides of the aisle. As there are fewer and fewer veterans in government there is a disconnectedness in the political sphere. Yes, both Bush Presidents were vets but their mindset, inexplicably, seems askew regarding these issues.
Richard Baker| 2.20.12 @ 5:29PM
By the way, shoot down one of your own in peacetime and make Admiral?
turpentine| 2.21.12 @ 12:32AM
Odd how just getting shot at is considered heroic.
You are kidding, right? The U.S.S. Gabriela Giffords?
This is an open, full-faced move to effeminize our Navy men. (A small but telling element to this - - What is Gabriela's last name? Um, she's married, right? Yes, she is married to Mark _________ -- clue: It is not Giffords)
Lessee: She got shot at (by a mental case). Sorry, it happens. She survives. Sorry, she really didn't (and wasn't given) have a choice in that matter, the choice to survive. Once she was in top-notch medical care, she was GOING TO SURVIVE and recover. Such is the state of medicine today; such is the much-better-than-average medical care that she, as a Congressman, is going to receive.
That is simply not courageous. Most people faced with terrible trauma in similar situations decide to live.
Courage is something else entirely.
Honor should be bestowed in the rarest of instances.
Name these U.S. Navy vessels for cities, states, rivers perhaps, regions. I really don't think that we much produce people of caliber today that are worthy of such honor.
Bulgaricus| 2.21.12 @ 5:54AM
Where DO they get these people? For an enemy, our Navy couldn't be in better hands. What's next, a 2 wooden ship Navy?
Arbiter55| 2.21.12 @ 11:36AM
Mabus is also responsible for naming the 10th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship after another famous grifter, Congressman John P. Murtha. Ships of this class had previously been named for US cities, until Mabus decided to honor Murtha (yes, I know Murtha was a Marine Corps colonel, but still).
See the Navy Times story here:
http://www.navytimes.com/news/.....r_041310w/
Seek| 2.21.12 @ 12:26PM
Test.
Seek| 2.21.12 @ 12:27PM
Test.
Seek| 2.21.12 @ 12:27PM
Test.
Marc Jeric| 2.21.12 @ 1:53PM
One good thing about Mullah Obama's facination with the green energy is that such energy does not exist.
Ron| 2.21.12 @ 4:02PM
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it....This is the same BS, Chicken#$^& that drove Richard Marcinko from the US Navy. If you, dear readers, get the chance, read his biographies, and fictional novels.
He was accused of allegedly defrauding the Navy over the prices of a contractor for hand grenades...That is the kind of 1990s BS we are heading back to...A PC navy.
jknight| 4.4.12 @ 1:52PM
LMAO. Marcinko? The most "Un-Seal" Seal I've seen, well besides the guy who went on the survivoresque game show on tv and later became a Blackwater mercenary. Marcinko is a bit too pompous and self serving to be taken very seriously.
alabama yankee| 2.21.12 @ 9:45PM
Oh hell, just shoot the SOB. In fact, shoot the other two mentioned hacks as well!
jknight| 4.4.12 @ 1:40PM
Replace Mabus? With what? Another tool of the extreme right, defense industry/political hack revolving door? Men who are more interested in selling the latest whiz bang weapons system and follow-on services that we really don't need, while actually recommending that benefits and pay be cut for service members and retirees to make up for the budget deficits. Talk about self-serving hacks that don't stand up for the interests of the people. Mabus is a vast improvement over Danzig, England and Winter.