Thursday, July 25, 2013

Jumping the SAPR Shark

With each passing week there is less doubt to provide benefit thereto.

This is quickly turning in to a fully-engulfed FLAILEX-Alpha as the normal dampening system in any crisis provided by sound, clear, fact-based, and precise leadership continues to be absent.

First; let's quote from the excerpt from BJ's book 21st Century Mahan: Sound Military Conclusions for the Modern Era that came out earlier this week at Forbes.com;
Trust. In principle it sounds great, but in practice it appears to be a frightening concept to some leaders. Sometimes it even appears ineffective. Over a century ago the naval officer and strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan thought and wrote about the vital importance of trust and its critical place in effective leadership. A founding member of the faculty at the U.S. Navy’s War College, Mahan believed that teaching leadership and command was as important as strategy.
...
Mahan’s best example of the positive results of trust came from his study of Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson, the most celebrated Royal Navy officer in history and a renowned combat leader. ... In his studies of Nelson, Mahan wrote that the British Admiral combined the attributes of conviction, confidence, and most of all: “the natural, inborn power of trust.”

Nelson’s trust in his subordinates, as Mahan wrote, “took form in an avowed scheme of life and action, which rested, consciously or unconsciously, upon the presumption in others of that same devotion to duty, that same zeal to perform it…which he found himself.” He entered any decision, or any argument, with the assumption that his officers and men were going to do the right thing or try their hardest. When asked by the head of the Royal Navy to select his own subordinates for a command Nelson responded, “Choose them yourself. You cannot go amiss. The same spirit actuates the whole profession; you cannot choose wrong.”
Let that soak in a bit ... and ... behold para 3.e of NAVADMIN 181/13;
e. Designate a Flag Officer, reporting to you, as the SAPR program leader for each Navy installation/Fleet Concentration Area and associated local commands. This designated Flag Officer will establish routine coordination meetings with appropriate installation/local command representatives, and local community and civic leaders to review SAPR program efforts. This designated Flag Officer will also ensure that community outreach and engagement--including base and region commander cooperation, coordination and consultation with local law enforcement, hospitals and hotels--is part of each area's prevention and response measures. Operational Flag Officers assigned to command positions, but not designated as lead for an oversight group, will participate to the maximum extent practicable. Local Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) representatives, Region Legal Service Offices, and installation SARCs will be included in these coordination meetings whenever possible.
Read that again. Well ... I would enjoy seeing a Nimitz or Halsey being the SAPR Program Leader.


1 comment:

Horatius said...

Well, hopefully after Savo Island/Prince of Wales-Repulse II there will be enough of the fleet left to do something with.

"You had better shape up tiger or some hot shot Jap pilot will flame your..."