If you want to read the article (and see a more realistic "You ain't a WWII FADM Shipmate" pic), click here. If you want to see a perfect example of the Epic Fail that is/was Task Force Uniform WRT camo uniforms, click here. If you want to see what a major corporation's CEO schedule does NOT look like, but what is a retention issue - click here. Those who actually believe the Life-Work Balance FOD they are feeding you should read in detail.
Interesting reading, in a fashion. Towards the end - this caught my eye.
While one of his aides insists that Mullen would be the last person to use the word "legacy," Mullen himself says, "I'm not going to be here forever. I'm thinking of the young people who come after me."Really? Really?
Funny - though I looked - I had a lot of trouble finding any reference to his time as CNO and his role in the Tiffany productions of LPD-17, DDG-1000, LCS, etc. Hmmmm.
Funny - I didn't see any discussion of how he fought a losing battle against the surge .... wrong there too. Hmmmm.
Yes, a tough job - but there is a major characteristic to superior leaders of major corporations - they do not hide their failures. They discuss them and learn from them. Hmmmmm.
UPDATE: I knew something about that photo bothered me. It just screamed "40s and 50s Navy" to me, but I could not place it. Not the uniform per se; but the tone, saturation, and noir vibe of the photo itself. Additionally - the angle, lens distortion, F-stop and lack of glasses on ADM Mullen simply made him look like another person altogether. Thanks to Bullnav in comments, I can now place it.
The Chairman isn't supposed to look like a WWII FADM - no, the photographer isn't that obsequious as that - no, he has a lot more cheek.
Who is The Chairman supposed to look like? Humphrey Bogart's LCDR Queeg from The Caine Mutiny
. Tell me we're wrong.
Funny - I didn't see any discussion of how he fought a losing battle against the surge .... wrong there too. Hmmmm.
Yes, a tough job - but there is a major characteristic to superior leaders of major corporations - they do not hide their failures. They discuss them and learn from them. Hmmmmm.
UPDATE: I knew something about that photo bothered me. It just screamed "40s and 50s Navy" to me, but I could not place it. Not the uniform per se; but the tone, saturation, and noir vibe of the photo itself. Additionally - the angle, lens distortion, F-stop and lack of glasses on ADM Mullen simply made him look like another person altogether. Thanks to Bullnav in comments, I can now place it.
The Chairman isn't supposed to look like a WWII FADM - no, the photographer isn't that obsequious as that - no, he has a lot more cheek.
Who is The Chairman supposed to look like? Humphrey Bogart's LCDR Queeg from The Caine Mutiny
. Tell me we're wrong.Someone needs to have his PAO and senior MA in an office about right now with the door closed .....
Hat tip LBG.
89 comments:
So good ole "Midnight Mullen" walks on water, leaps tall buildings in a single bound, etc. etc. etc. Having not read the article for fear of losing my stomach, does it mention him grinding his staffs into the ground, rewriting working doctrine into garbage, giving away Vieques (sp?)... (yes, HE was the one who could have made that decision go either way), screwing up the USN as CNO, and now the armed forces as CJCS? The list is long and bloody, his wake is filled with corpses.
Does he really care about the lone sailor, and soldier? Does he really care about fleet maintenance, the right equipment for the troops, the right strategy? I think not. The fact that he survived Rummy's SECDEF reign of terror tells volumes.
I do not like him Sam I Am, not here, not there, not anywhere.
Good to see intelligent debate on here. Great points SWO.
Is it me, or does he look eerily similar to Humphery Bogart as LCDR Queeg in The Caine Mutiny?
Bingo! That is it. Something about that photo had "40s & 50s" all over it (hence the WWII reference I made) - but I could not place it.
That is worth an update. Thanks. 48hr liberty chit for you to use over any weekend. 8-)
It's the "Californian" in him.. it is not his fault. He is a creature of his environment....
<span>Today, Paramount studios announced the Remake of "My Three Sons". Admiral Mike "Integrity" Mullen, will play the role instead of Fred MacMurray due to a wardrobe disagreement.
Uncle Charlie was not available for comment.</span>
Good pics. I think they went through a LOT of effort to get the intended effect, because when I first saw your post, I thought that it WAS a clip from The Caine Mutiny...
The photos with the unfathomable variations of mostly silly uniforms was enough to give me the dry heaves.
Then we are reminded of his shipbuilding accomplishments, and his perfidious and militarily unwise (but politically correct) abandonment of Vieques....
ROAWWWAAAAALLLLLLFFFFFFFF.
I was having that "Get the strawberries!" vibe also.
"<span>obsequous"</span>
-Someone needs to reread their Reef Points.
Are you talking about the typo missing I?
Are you daft, man? Do you LIKE throwing rocks? Waiting to see if you can throw one too many?
For the record, last night I did not comment once on your plethora of split infinitives, incorrect grammar or other spelling and syntax errors that made me wonder if English was your native language.
Shall I start?
DB, I was making an inside joke. I guess you're on the outside of the joke.
You can do as you please wrt my use of the English language. If you had substantial points, you wouldn't make personal attacks. Perhaps you should look into where "obsequious" appears in Reef Points.
Now you are just being pedantic CNFO. I am doing this on the fly. You are lucky it isn't in German.
-1 for style towards the host.
<span>"Does he really care for hte lone sailor, and soldier?"</span>
<span>In my brief exposure to him, I'd say unequivocably, yes. The rest of the topic (i.e. what kind of effect his policies have on the sailor and soldier) is way over my head, but I'd stand up for him as genuinely concerned for the troops any day.</span>
FbL, I wish he would put that "concern" to action, by building ships we can fight...
Having known Mike Mullen for many years and worked with him on a couple of occasions, I agree with FbL that his concern for people is genuine.
Where's the SWO pin?
Never questioned concern here - just performance. There is a big difference.
Better question....
What is that lone ribbon at the top? seemingly by itself and not centered?
Yellow with blue stripes?
Also, the Navy is getting the life-work balance all wrong... Big time. Once jobs return, I don't think it will be pretty.
Ah, but can Admiral Mullen prove with geometric logic that there was another key?
Call me crazy and deployed for too long... But, I don't think that is his ribbon rack...
That should be the DDSM that is up top there... Not the _____ that I cannot identify at all. This plus no SWO pin... Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot.
At least the pix of the one guy with that uniform....
There are some things in the English language up with which I shall not put! Or summat like that....Winnie the C.
I have no idea whether he cares or not. Caring isn't important. Actions and results are important. This is similar to the liberal mindset of "Our policies may have made things worse, but we had good intentions." BS! I don't care about their intentions if their results stink. The admiral may have changed over the years, but my main memory of him was just another battlegroup commander who would rather no liberty than risk a liberty incident that could slow his career progression.
I would like to use this opportunity to point out that the best thing about my next orders is....no NWU. BDU all the way, baby!
YNSN -- you can prob find the ribbon on the ribbon chart...
Some years back -- waaaaaaaaaaaaay back -- before SWO pins (and while they were even new for a while) -- some Flag Officers chose to remove their pins. As I recall reading, many did so out of a concern that if they continued to wear them (past CAPT) they would be perceived -- as more beholden to their warfare community, than to the needs of the Navy as a whole -- which is the focus in some of the higher level posts.
Harkens back to the days when -- as many in General Marshall's generation would do -- voluntarily not vote -- so they would not even give the appearance of favoring one political party over the other.
Sadly, the good parts of those days are long past us.
Looks like Defense Superior Service Medal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Superior_Service_Medal
Jay, that is my recollection as well.
"<span>Now you are just being pedantic CNFO"</span>
-never far away from insults here.
Er, I kinda like the Khaki uniform. Even if the mess stewards ate the strawberries.
I don't doubt his legitimate concern about the country, but let's do a Perform to Serve, shall we?
- Thousand ship navy? Negative. Dead on Arrival
- Conversations with the country? Ineffective, hence SECDEF Gate's latest anti Navy/Marine comments.
- DDG 1000? Down from 37 ships to 7 ships to maybe 3 definitely 2 technology demonstrators.
- LPD 17? Gets underway as much as LCS. More broken than the 43 year old ships she is supposed to replace.
- LCS? Undergunned, gas guzzling (where's the green littoral combat ship)
- CG(X)? Killed by his follow-on
- Iraqi Surge? Passed and successful without his endorsement
- Iran? Strategy ineffective, emboldened the enemy
- China? I'm not going to lay this one on Mullen.
- Diversity? Standards down, demographics up. If we were a summer camp, maybe this would be acceptable. Maybe. Maybe we should be championing standards up across the nation...then you'd be surprised at all the diverse talent that would naturally flow in...No Child Left Behind, anyone?
Conclusion: Thank you for your service. You have served long and hard, and it is appreciated by a grateful nation. You owe it to yourself to take a retirement.
That was mint and sugar, wasn't it?
"<span>Someone needs to have his PAO and senior MA in an office about right now with the door closed..."</span>
CJCS PWNED!
Funny - I didn't see anyone supporting the Chairman on this blog.
Funny - I'm not surprised.
Knock yourself out. Comments are open.
That is the DDSM. It does not look like what teh CJCS has on.
Next to my desk I have a chart of every award and ribbon issed by the DOD and every Service. the closest thing I can find to what is on top there is the Air Force Commendation Medal.
Like it too. Problem is, AFAIK, there's only one around the fleet authorized for wear. His is it.
Anon,
support is "Earned". Especially round these parts...
You're right! Good catch. I guess his loyalty HAS changed.
I was thinking it looked more like an Air Force Good Conduct Medal but I guess it could be an AFCM. Hard to tell from that angle and color palette.
YNSN, It's the DSSM. Just went to CJCS' official photo on the DoD website and that's the ribbon located above his NCM. Tough to tell but it looks like his DSM and DDSM are either covered by his lapel or were air-brushed out for some reason (which would explain the missing SWO pin).
Jay, seeing that I was serving before the introduction of the SWO pin, I don't remember any Flag Officer who chose to remove his warfare pin to show his solidarity to the Navy as a whole. That's not to say that it didn't happen, just that it didn't happen much and I don't believe that this is the case with Mullen (if so he would have done it long ago).
What I do remember is walking down the fourth deck corridor to my E-Ring office as a LCDR. If you turned right (towards the OP-06, SWO, and Sub offices) there was a sign over the doorway saying "One Navy". If you turned the other direction the sign said "Naval Aviation".
Captain Queeg of USS CAINE was a mediocre Capt, at best. But the point of The Caine Mutiny was that if the commissioned officers in that destroyer's wardroom had been loyally supporting their mediocre and eccentric captain, then USS CAINE would have been a warship capable of functionally carrying out all her missions vice becoming infamous. So, perhaps we should all loyally support this current 4-star admiral better than we have been ? ( I agree the facial resemblence is noteworthy).
Given the infamous SWO bad name. Would you want to claim to be one?
How about a CDR paid night at Singleton's?
Memory says that ADM William Owens (ret as VCJCS) tooks his dolphins off when he was on OpNav staff.
I'm up!
Snipe, Could be although he wore his dolphins when I knew him as C6F and he has them on in his official photo on Wikipedia.
I and about two dozen others attended a breakfast with ADM Mullen where he asked, how does the Navy/Military cope with post-conflict resetting of forces/doctrine/etc. I was heavily engaged with my thesis and so hadn't been thinking about such things. Didn't have anything coherent to say, and so I said nothing. Apparrently neither did any of the other two dozen officers from all branches of the service.
He stated that your perspective/thinking has been thoroughly shaped by the status quo culture by the time you reach CNO or CJCS level. He asked us because he wanted our input.
We all failed that morning.
The fact that I did not have a ready answer exhibits a big hole in my focus, thoughts, professionalism, knowledge. Something which I am striving to rectify.
What aspects was he asking about, or was it just an open question?
Nothing wrong with how you felt.. I have been left slack jawed at times by people who think they know more than I on issues... when they are wrong...
<span>It was specifically on how to avoid contraction post-conflict as is the US Habit. Further thought since then leads me to believe that contraction that brings relief from heavy sustainment burdens can actually be good if you use the freedom of action to innovate. Fast Carriers 20s and 30s for example. The problem is that you have to know what you want.
</span>
<span>The thing is, I think he was admitting in a way that he didn't. Someone I read occaisionally John T. Reed http://www.johntreed.com/military.html writes about this. You have to make so many subtle compromises that it shapes your perspectives/thoughts/imagination after a while.
</span>
"tooks" ? egad. Thank you for not saying anything. Same memory says Owens went to OpNav staff from being my subgru cdr in Chasn. We all remarked about it at the time.
Mullen is from that class of 68 bunch of scalawags:
1 CJCS
2 CNOs
1 CMC
1 SecNav
1 US Senator
1 PacCom
1 DNI
and Oliver North.
I would take one Ollie North over 50 of these guys...
At least the acting in "The Caine Mutiny" was first rate. When I saw it I was quite impressed with Bogart's work. I can't say the same about Mullen.
Rhodeislander, I think the wardroom did try to support their Captain. There are things a Co can do, however, that destroys the mental balance of the crew, and will turn a ship into a hell ship. I experienced a ship that was close to that, where the Captain would ridicule his officers on the bridge in front of everyone. My Chief retired earlier than he originally planned, as did several other senior petty officers. The ship still finctioned because many of us found ways to resist the man while still getting our work done. As a result we saved that CO's sorry backside. We didn't do it for him, but for ourselves and our country.
Hopefully, he retired at the same rank Arnheiter did. He deserved nothing more. Given the mess the Navy is in, Mullen and Roughhed will get far more than they deserve.
Simulationist,
I think the difference this time is that we haven't plussed up the forces as much as we have during previous conflicts. We won't be able to funnel as much personnel savings into equipment overhaul and replacement.
I think operating lean will add some challenges, especially where we stand with sea-shore rotations. There probably isn't much "right sizing" to be had.
The big wins will be gaining efficiencies in equipment maintenance. We've seen improvements in Naval Aviation through the use of the Enterprise view on operations, and this is growing through the other areas, but the other services seem to be lagging. I think the biggest challenge will be training for the new flexible and dynamic battle space, and avoiding the problem where we train for the last war. Another big issue will be co-locating responsibility and authority. We've see a roll up of authority to higher levels, but still hold the trigger pullers responsible. This is a symptom of data links/networks enabling decisions to be made at an increasingly higher level of the chain of command.
So QM, you worked for Holly Graf?
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