Disarming America
Navy's New Plan To Halt Re-enlistment
by Sanford Hughes
(Pacific Flyer) Bad news for squids and jarheads (our beloved sailors and Marines).
The Navy Department has figured a way to cut back on the expense of running a Navy and all those desert wastelands they call Marine bases.
Basically, stop all drinking, smoking and eating rich foods, test everyone all the time and eventually, there won't be anyone left to collect pay and pension benefits. Of course they didn't say that exactly. What they did say is, the Navy will "implement fleet-wide breathalyzer tests for sailors and Marines, crack down on smoking and drinking, and phase in many other major personnel policy changes, such as giving females three years off to birth babies instead of standing duty they signed up for."
The broad collection of new policies has been dubbed "21st Century Sailor and Marine," and reflected many "longstanding issues or goals" for the department by social engineers now seemingly in charge of the U.S. military. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Jim Amos unveiled the coming disaster but it isn't clear if the White House forced them into it or they went along willingly.
Juan Garcia (a civilian), assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, said that "21st Century" has five "pillars" - readiness, safety, physical fitness, inclusion and "continuum of service."
The Navy Department's basic goal is to get the most possible good out of every servicemember and keep them in the force for as long as possible before they come to their senses or just head for Canada. Officials said they hope anti-drinking, anti-smoking and physical fitness campaigns will make troops healthier, reduce accidents such as drunk driving and result in fewer missed work days over a sailor or Marine's career.
Contrast this with the British Navy which not only allows smoking but still issues a cupful of grog every day.
EVERYONE GETS SCREENED:
The highest profile new policy will be the fleetwide use of breathalyzers, which until now have only been tried sporadically in various parts of the Navy. Within the coming year, Garcia said, virtually all ships and many Marine units will begin fielding breathalyzers and a novel approach for using them.
"What we're stressing is this is not a punitive tool, not a legal tool, but instead it's an inspection and prevention tool," Garcia, who's obviously never been in the Navy, said, "leading chiefs to prevent career-ending or service-ending incidents." Of course, just the opposite will be true.
For example, all sailors coming aboard a ship for a duty shift after liberty will be screened with the breathalyzer, and the whole crew will be subject to random inspections. In addition to being deeply unpopular with sailors, the Navy's past breathalyzer experiments also have drawn skepticism from its own leaders: former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Joe Campa once observed that a breathalyzer on the brow could cause as many problems as it solved. A sailor or Marine who shows up for duty with a blood alcohol level above .08 will be sent to medical, his leaders and shipmates will be notified, and his case will rest in the hands of his commanding officer and noted in his record. That should do a lot for reenlistment figures.
NO SMOKING ANYTIME, ANYWHERE:
Tobacco and the synthetic marijuana-like drug known as "spice" are also on the hit list. The Navy Department will stop discounting tobacco products at exchanges and begin new rounds of tests to catch spice-smokers. Recent congressional action also means that, for the first time in decades, Navy warships may not go to sea with tobacco in their ships' stores. Navy officials want to duplicate what they say has been the success of the submarine force, which outlawed smoking at the beginning of 2011.
So much for having an after dinner cigar in the goat locker (chief's quarters).
WOMEN CAN GET THREE YEARS OFF:
It also will offer women new options to take time away from service to have children, then return to duty to pick up their careers. Women will be able to move into the inactive ready reserve for as long as three years, receive a stipend for not working, keep commissary and other benefits and use one permanent change of station to relocate. They'll incur a "two for one" obligation - meaning a woman who took the maximum three years off would owe the Navy or Marine Corps six additional years. Let's see how long that lasts.
BAD NEWS FOR RECRUITING OFFICERS:
Worse, for Chief Petty Officers and Gunnery Sergeants, the Navy and Marines will also step up a "year-round culture of fitness" to lean on servicemembers to keep fit. With all these sailors and Marines in better shape, drinking less and not smoking, the Navy Department wants to keep them in service for as long as possible, or, at least, until their enlistment is up. Of course, it may be impossible to get anyone to re-up since the men are unable to smoke or drink. And as all the women will be off having babies, who's going to run the ships, planes and shore bases in about four years?
Borrowed from the patriotic minds at PIG...
8 comments:
HEEEEEEEY BOOOOOOYYYYYZ! (Finger snap)
Will the navy vessels just become another gay cruise?
OK, as the resident squid I'll knock these down one by one. But first let me say, NOTHING new here folks. these are repackaged edicts that have been brought back up to make things better. This is NOT PCizing.
"...all sailors coming aboard a ship for a duty shift after liberty..."
Understand there is a HUGE difference in showing up at 02:00, with 4 hours to sleep one off, and showing up at 06:00, and getting into a DUTY uniform, to take over from someone who is going home / on the beach to begin drinking and whoring. They're not doing this to everyone all the time.
It's JUST the oncoming duty section. i.e., the personnel responsible for safety and security and emergency operations for the next 24 hour duty section.
This is NOT a stop drinking campaign.
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"...Tobacco and the synthetic marijuana-like drug known as "spice" are also on the hit list ..."
The common thing I would tell you about NOT smoking in clubs restaurants, stores is that it should be up to the OWNER first and the patrons afterward. If YOU want to go to a club or place where you CAN smoke. Go for it.
I dare you to put a gun to my head and MAKE me go in there. That's the way a ship is. You can't chose to 'leave' if the room gets too smokey, and they often do.
I was and am a life long NON-smoker. It doesn't bother me and in most instances it ain't bad to be somewhere where people are smoking. Having said that, go get 25 of your smoking friends, got into your bedroom, close the door, duct tape goes over every seam, crack, crevice in there so it is AIRTIGHT.
Now, start playing poker for the next 5 hours. But you cannot open a door or window. After THAT 5 hours, open ONE door, 1/2 of you rush out, closing the door, the guys on the inside RETAPE the racks and openings. Go piss, grab a sandwich, and swap with the guys in 30 minutes. Don't forget another pack of cigarettes! Go forbid! When that second crowd comes back, RETAPE that door shit again. 5 hours, smoke poker, secure for the poker drill.
That room is now as smoked as any ham, hot dog or keilbasa you ever ate. You can't get the smell off of the equipment or OUT of the equipment. I've actually read studies about depleted ship efficiency because electronics enclosures are so full of tar and BS from smoke. That completely ignores the constant smoke in YOUR lungs for the last 9 1/2 out of 10 hours. Hey you wanna smoke, you wanna go to a club, store or restaurant where it's allowed? great. But whereTF do YOU get the right to put a gun to MY head and say, "SMOKE UP fat boy!"?
PART TWO of my Tirade!
I won't address the females getting 3 years off. Understand that I'm so old fashioned that I think they shouldn't be in there AT ALL. Any military has just three jobs, protect the populace. kill people, break shit.
Women are not made to do these things physically nor mentally.
(I told you I was old!)
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"...step up a "year-round culture of fitness"..."
This my friends is AS it it SHOULD be!!! It's the effing military! You want a cushy, AC equipped, 9 to 5, no sweating needed office job?
Then, you should go to college or tech school and get one then!
(or join the AF if you're looking for ease)
If you'll go back and check, these are rules that have existed since at least WWI. But periodically, they go to exercise three times a week. Then it's twice a month, then there's just a yearly PT you gotta pass to stay in.
They were losing MILLIONS of dollars a year of MY money because 21 year old guys could NOT run a mile and a half in under (here it comes) 14 minutes. And then they get put OUT of the military for physical fitness reasons, taking $250K of training with them, and we get to pay AGAIN to train his replacement!(BTW,I limped that distance on a sprained ankle, at 24, at 237 lbs [an illegal weight now], to get OUT of Boot Camp in 1977!) Again, I'm not saying everyone CAN or SHOULD do this. But IF you want to be in MY Navy, get in shape, stay in shape!
Personally on this, just before I got OUT of the 'Nav', I was just 18 seconds OVER that time, at 27, at almost 275 lbs. It wasn't WHY I got out, but it didn't help my case.
But I never had a desk job either, I was a 'hole snipe', I worked in engine rooms and aux spaces and generator rooms. I never missed a lick because of my weight. THAT's why I got waivers, I had a great work record and work ethic. So even though I was way up there, I did my damned job. It's NOT happening that way now.
My son, the Lifer Dog, tells me he's got kids working for him who can't carry a 50 lb sack of spuds down three ladders (stair wells) to put them in storage. (I used to 'double' those and sacks of flour too!) Bottom line, when a 18 to 25 year old can't carry 50 lbs, just 100 or 200 feet, we're screwed militarily!
This is the typical article written by some well meaning asshole who has more intel on paper than first hand knowledge of WHAT that intel means or how to weigh it out.
In this instance, the patriotic minds at PIG, are just plain old wrong!
Spider, does the NYPD have physical standards or not? I'm betting they DID but threw them out for PC reasons. Right? Here the Navy is trying to make things tougher, and you have a problem with that?! I'm stymied.
And just for a finish on this, we've got more guys trying to RE-enlist NOW than they can keep! There has to be a certain amount of new blood AND old blood, and we're not keeping all we could right now. So this won't cause a problem in any way.
Can ya shtill shmoke da baloney pony?
You can, but don't ask to do it or tell anyone you did.
Shum buddy elsh will know.
Howsh about a light den?
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