Not worthy of Webb

Notice the pattern. He constantly talks over others. Only his facts apply. His lame excuse for why his second hand knowledge of Iraq is greater than another Senator's first hand knowledge. Saw it in 6th grade - looking at it now.

His facts are wrong. His bully habits are wrong. I'm not a huge fan of Senator Graham (R-SC), but still, why people think this performance helps Webb's cause is beyond me.



Though no video - the tried it the other night with Senator Thune (R- SD).

1:57 A.M.
Thune is maybe a little too good, because Webb has started playing a little fast and loose with the gavel and floor rules, interrupting him to ask some inane questions about the diversity of opinions on the war within the military. The subtext of this is, near as I can tell, “I, Jim Webb, am a citizen soldier extraordinaire and former career military officer. You are none of these things and are therefore unqualified to speak on such issues.” Thune deftly counters by reminding Webb, that he’s actually visited with soldiers in Iraq and Webb has not.

Senator Webb (D-VA) is getting old real fast. Anger mixed with narcissistic pomposity isn't a plan - and it rarely makes good policy.

I know I should go after the message and not the messenger - but Webb has made himself the message. Fair game.

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Speaking of the worlds greatest deliberative body, from Allah; Nuff said.

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UPDATE: Some facts for my friend Skippy who in comments said,

It was Graham that talked over Webb...

Webb started by talking, uninterrupted for 1:42. Graham's next time slot ran 1:34 - but Webb interrupted and talked over him on and off for a total of :29 - Graham netted 1:05. Webb next had 1:51 - but Graham interrupted or talked over him for 24 seconds - Webb netted 1:27. The last ~:50 was verbal graba55 that was about break even.
----Webb's net talking was 3:09, gross 3:34. Interrupted by Graham 16% of the time.
----Graham's net talking was 1:05, gross 1:34. Interrupted by Webb 39% of the time.

Webb started it. Webb had 69% of the talking time during the segment gross. Webb had 74% of the net talking time.

Facts are hard things, friend.

I feel the need, the need for … a new job.

At a quarter past noon on Jan. 21, a U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet jet fighter flown by a combat-tested pilot named Richard Webb appeared over the Edna Valley and streaked toward San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport.

On its first pass, the Super Hornet screamed along at more than 650 miles an hour, just 96 feet above the main runway. Soon it circled back, touched down on the tarmac for an instant, then went into a steep climb, afterburner roaring, and disappeared in the skies.

Flathatting, the story that keeps giving. A long as there have been testosterone, airplanes, needy-egos, and poor judgment – there has been flathatting.

Ernie Sebby was in his house less than a mile from the airport. He ran to the front porch and caught a glimpse of the aircraft. It appeared to be painted in gray primer. He could make out no identifying numbers.

A former volunteer at airport community functions and an erstwhile recreational pilot, the 77-year-old retired corrections officer guessed that the plane was a surplus military jet fighter flown "by some guy that's got more money than brains."

I’ll have more on this guy in a bit. We all know the type.

The Federal Aviation Administration designation for the airspace above the airport is Class D, meaning that it has a speed limit of 230 mph below 2,500 feet. "Oh boy, we're in trouble," Pehl thought. "We've got a real PR issue…. "

Oops!

In today's environment, Sherwood said, there is little tolerance "for misbehavior in any way, whether it's flying an aircraft outside the flight plan or having a few beers in the officers' club."

Few things can end a career faster, crashing your plane into a neighborhood killing taxpayers, or even worse – in some eyes – having a few beers. No one goes to O-clubs anymore anyway.

The Navy tradition, he said, is to give a ship's captain or aircraft pilot a great deal of responsibility and autonomy, but to countenance not even the smallest mistake. The Navy "has a reputation for eating its children…. If you mess up, there are no second chances."

You don’t have to be a “kid” to get eaten up – though it looks like it is OK to play bumper cars with your DDG….

After graduation from college, Webb became a U.S. Navy aviation officer. He flew F-14 Tomcat jet fighters in combat over Afghanistan and Iraq, taking off from the deck of the U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise.

In January, he was based temporarily at Lemoore Naval Air Station in the San Joaquin Valley, where he was learning to fly the Super Hornet, the Navy's successor to the Tomcat. Sometimes he drove to the San Luis Obispo airport to visit and fly with old friends.

You can feel it coming, can’t you? Kind of like the old jokes growing up of what the last words of most “good-ole-boys”..

”Heck, I can do that.”

Or the more deadly,

Hey guys, watch this!!

Of his career as a Navy aviator, Webb told him: "Mike, I love this so much I can't believe they're paying me to do it. I'd do it for free."

Shipmate, part of the deal is to not do stupid stuff.

On Jan. 21, Webb checked out an F-18 Super Hornet at the Lemoore base for a training flight, to add to the 14.8 hours he had logged in the aircraft's cockpit. His superiors assumed that he would fly to a designated military training area above Sequoia and Death Valley national parks, 100 miles to the east.
Webb had other ideas.

"When I made a quick decision to fly down to my old airport and do a flyby, you can imagine what I was thinking…. " Webb wrote. "I could now be the guy who seemed to explode out of nowhere doing a high-speed afterburner pass, leaving a lasting impression on a young kid. Talk about the circle being completed…."

Ohhh, that hurts just to read. This isn’t some 22 yr old kid in a T-34 flying out of Whiting Field – and BTW it’s not about you.

Minutes after Webb's flight, telephone console lights in the airport administrative offices blazed. "Everybody heard it — the whole city heard it," said airport manager Klaasje Nairne. "The phone rang off the hook … it rocked our world."

About half an hour after the plane departed, Sebby e-mailed Nairne, asking her to find out the plane's identity. He expressed concern that "the tremendous noise generated will set airport and community relations back years."

Yep, him again.

After airport officials got in touch, the Navy convened an evaluation board to consider Webb's conduct. Webb admitted performing the flyby and knowing that it was against the rules. The board also reviewed two other incidents in Webb's past which, in the Navy's view, involved questionable judgment by the aviator.

A FNAEB board, I presume. Time to take out a fork.

Upon learning of the threat to Webb's career, San Luis Obispo airport officials expressed concern about the reaction they had sparked. On Feb. 15, Nairne wrote Webb's superiors that "it was never our intent to be a party to the end of this gentleman's naval aviation career." If that were the result, she wrote, "it would be most regrettable."

The die is cast. If you are going to raise hell, take responsibility for the consequences … just like Webb.

Although a superior officer acknowledged that Webb was "an energetic junior officer and talented aviator," the commander of the Naval Air Force Atlantic Fleet, Webb's home command, concluded that his flyby "merits termination of flying status."

Webb's wings were pulled. He was exiled to a desk job in Qatar in the Middle East, and left to ponder the four remaining years of his service commitment as a groundling.

At this point, you may feel sorry for the good LT (I believe – maybe LCDR), don’t. There may have been hope for him – though rare in this case – if he groveled enough and showed contrition – to at least keep his Wings or even keep flying through transition and or NPLOR/PLOR in a following Mast – but I doubt it. He had too much experience and we tolerate this too little that the need to gibbet someone doing this too great. Anyway, he kept digging.

On June 3, he sent an e-mail to Sebby, carbon-copying more than 30 friends and others in the aviation community. Webb told Sebby that his grounding was "a direct result of your indignant e-mail," which he characterized as "scathing."

In regard to his unauthorized flyby, Webb wrote, "No respected fighter pilot worth his salt can look me in the eye and tell me they've never done the exact same thing."

Bravo Sierra to the last comment. I’ll take the best 100 fighter pilots in the Navy and the AirFarce right now, and at best you might find the VERY low single digit % had ever even come close to doing this. If that. More digging.

Webb concluded that he was "not apologetic for what I did, and if given the chance, I'd do the same thing again…. It's just incredibly hard to admit fault, and accept such disproportionate punishment, to an action that probably helped recruit many young kids in town that day…. I feel ashamed to have my close friends die to protect your freedom to complain about how we do our job."

That’s it Shipmate. With that attitude, you would never make it out of any FNAEB board ever convened. Navy aviation just does not take well poor professionalism. You look like the 2005 poster child.

Oh, what happened to the prison guard, you ask?

Sebby is not as sympathetic. Webb's missive brought down on him an avalanche of angry e-mails, and some anonymous, harassing phone calls. Sebby contacted Navy officials to complain of what he came to see as Webb's orchestration of a vilification campaign against him.

"I wasn't trying to prosecute anyone or get him fired or grounded," Sebby said in an interview. "I had no idea it was even a military aircraft. This thing he orchestrated against me … I want the Navy to know I'm not going to let this drop because I'm offended, deeply offended, by this."

Sure, Webb shouldn’t have hit the “send” key, but you are a know-it-all, busy-body, wannabe. Your type can be found at any airshow, Army museum, or USNI Seminar.

I am offended by your puss-ant ability to be offended. Poseur wannabee pain-in-the-ass. You almost make me feel sympathetic to Webb.

I know some of you think that Webb was hit to hard. Not me. We don’t have the aircraft, time, professional and political capital to put up with that kind of stupidity. Don’t take my word for it though.

"I was very much floored when I read this report," said one former F-18 instructor who agreed to be interviewed but was under orders from a commander to not be quoted by name. "This was so far out of the realm of acceptability it's ludicrous…. What he did was practically unheard of, extremely unusual … 500 knots at 96 feet is way beyond his ability…. That's extreme poor judgment having only 14.8 hours" of flight time in an F-18. "This kid was an accident waiting to happen. It was a blessing they got to him before he killed somebody and that was something that was going to happen."

Webb's case illustrates the balance a modern fighter pilot must strike between aggressiveness and daring on the one hand, and tight adherence to discipline and procedure on the other.

"You want your young men and women to fly aggressively, fly tough, fly mean, so when you need them to do tough things, they can go into battle and win," Whitcomb said. "But that aggression has got to be properly tempered, so when it's not called for, it doesn't get them in trouble.

"Nowadays, you can't accept needless loss. This F-18, this is the top-of-the-line, multi-multimillion-dollar aircraft extremely capable of doing some really amazing things, and we want the young people we bring in to be able to do those extra things, but always under control and carefully directed because it's very easy to lose control of a jet like that."

NavBlogSOPA Neptunus Lex is on the story as well.

We do “empower” our people, and we do expect a lot out of them, and frankly we do expect them to make mistakes from time to time. And mostly, so long as no one gets maimed or killed, or no serious damage is done to national treasures, we help them learn from their mistakes and move on. But let’s be perfectly clear here: The young man didn’t make a “mistake.” A mistake is when you reach down to turn the air conditioning up and accidentally vent the cabin pressure overboard. Or when you go to turn the landing light off on the rollout and put the launch bar down instead. Or you think the bandit is tail-on and you go to boresight him, only to find out that he’s head-on with a bag of knots and now you’re a whole lot closer than you’d like to be. A mistake is forgetting to set your radar altimeter. Any one of those mistakes can kill you, and you’d get a missing man fly by and a 21 gun salute, and your friends would speak well of you after.

But this young man didn’t make a mistake. He deliberately set out to do something which he had to know would land him in dutch if he got called on it, and he did it in a fashion almost guaranteed to ensure that he would get called on it. That’s just damned poor judgment.

Yep, on target. Chap is yapping about it too.

Diversity Thursday

It has been a month, and it is time.

Unlike most DivThu, I'm not going to be making many of the points, I will let others do that for me.

This doesn't quite fit as a DivThu either, but in the end it does because the same tactics used by Diversity Bullies who work out their own demons and insecurities on an isolated, undefended target are in play ... and if I had one I had 100 requests that I say something.

So, here you go.

Think about where you went to college. Does this meet the standards of a "Distinguished Graduate Award?"

Mr. Webb graduated from the Naval Academy in 1968, receiving a special commendation for his leadership contributions. First in his class of 243 at the Marine Corps Officer’s Basic School, he served as a rifle platoon and company commander in Vietnam and was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts. He graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1975.

Mr. Webb served in Congress as counsel to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs from 1977 to 1981. In 1982 he led the fight to include an African American soldier in the Vietnam Veterans memorial on the National Mall. In 1984 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, and in 1987 became Secretary of the Navy.

He was a Fall 1992 Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics.

In addition to his public service, Mr. Webb has enjoyed a varied career as a writer. He taught literature at the Naval Academy. Traveling widely as a journalist, he received an Emmy Award for his PBS coverage of the U.S. Marines in Beirut in 1983, and in 2004 was embedded with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. A screenwriter and producer, his original story “Rules of Engagement” held the top slot in U.S. box offices for two weeks in April 2000. Mr. Webb has written ten books, including “Born Fighting,” a sweeping history of the Scots – Irish culture, and “Fields of Fire,” widely recognized as the classic novel of the Vietnam War.

Mr. Webb has six children and lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Hong Le Webb. He speaks Vietnamese and has done extensive pro bono work with the Vietnamese community dating from the late 1970s.

Unspoken, of course - he was also a Senator.

But ...

Female U.S. Naval Academy alumni are protesting an award given to Jim Webb, a decorated Vietnam veteran, former senator, and secretary of the Navy, because he argued against women in combat nearly four decades ago.

I'll save you all the emoting by people about how other people used Webb's article to hurt their feelings. You can read the whole article from 1979 here.

I'll let Aaron MacLean at the Free Beacon outline a few thinking points;

The most widely cited reason for his political toxicity is an article he wrote in 1979 (side note: almost forty years ago!) in Washingtonian Magazine entitled "Women Can't Fight." Never mind that he has apologized for both the vivid language of his youth and the ways in which the article made life difficult for women already in the service. ("Clearly, if I had been a more mature individual, there are things that I would not have said in that magazine article. To the extent that this article subjected women at the Academy or the armed forces to undue hardship, I remain profoundly sorry.") Never mind the fact that Webb was channeling the beliefs of the vast majority of his fellow infantrymen, if in somewhat impolitic language—or that even today, the vast majority of Marines of all grades oppose the inclusion of women in combat units. Never mind that in 1987, as secretary of the Navy, Webb opened a tremendous number of new positions in the service to women. Most of all, never mind that as of December 2015, combat units were all opened to women by order of then-Secretary of Defense Carter, overriding the objections of the Marine Corps (though not of the Army).

In other words, the proponents of including women in combat units have won. But, as the case of Webb shows, that's not enough. You have to salt the fields.

Returning to our midshipman, here is what the Naval Academy has taught you this week:

- Do not take a bold stand, especially in public. It does not matter if your argument is made honestly and in good faith, or if you are an expert on the matter of policy under discussion.
- Keep a keen sense of which way the political wind is blowing. Don't fight it—drift with it.
- No matter the number of your accomplishments or their objective prestige, you will be humiliated for once having promoted a Wrong Opinion.
- The more effectively and memorably you promoted the Wrong Opinion, the greater your punishment will be.

That is about right.

Captain Gary Storm, USN (Ret.) President of the USNA Class of '68 also made some great points;

... as Secretary of the Navy. It led to a historic increase in the opportunity for women to serve at sea and ashore. Jim approved tightening the Navy’s definition of “combat mission” to open nearly 9,300 sea billets to women. Aviation opportunities were also increased by authorizing women to serve with shore-based reconnaissance squadrons. These changes significantly increased the opportunities for women to serve in major command billets—an important factor in enhancing their career progression and prospects for promotion.

One of our classmates, Karl Krumbholz, was a member of the panel that researched and contributed to the writing of the Navy’s study in 1987. “As a Commander,” he said, “I was on the Sexual Harassment and Fraternization Panel. This was an enormously educational experience for us and raised awareness of women’s issues within the Navy. It clearly helped Jim make changes that improved the environment and opportunities for women going forward in their careers. The members of our study group brought a spectacular focus and desire to do a good job. In my view, as a former commanding officer, the study group’s recommendations that Jim approved were well beyond the thinking of my contemporaries at the time.”

Again, what more can this NROTC guy say?

For your additional ponderings about how and why Webb was attacked now, in the way he was; Rule 12 from Saul Alinsky;

"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.

You operationalize it as such.

“You don’t communicate with anyone purely on the rational facts or ethics of an issue”. ... “moral rationalization is indispensable,” ... “clothe” one’s goals and strategies with “moral arguments”. But there can be no conversation with one’s opponents, for to converse with them is to humanize them.

My instincts were right to wait a month to comment on this sad little occurrence - mostly because I had to digest my own complicated feelings about Webb that long time members of the Front Porch are familiar with, no reason to go there again.

A month ago I was not all that happy that he backed out from receiving the award like he did, as it fit a pattern of his, but now I am having second thoughts.

I realized that I needed to look at his decision in the context of the cultural reference we both share; we are both from Old Line Scots-Irish families. When I think about it that way, it is all clear.

He dearly loves the Naval Academy. What he loves is weak and under the power of a force that is foam-flecked and inflexible. Nothing he could do by his presence would do any anything but to give that power more reasons to abuse and hurt that which he loves, as he was powerless to stop it and was without support. As such, there was no honorable option but to back away in sadness and regret - sadness and regret of what time and ill-treatment by others had done to the object of his affection.

He made the right call. Those who insist on judging people by what they said over 37 years ago and ignoring all they did afterwords - I hope in the future you are judged by the same standard.

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Update: Did you know that there is a #DiversityThursday hashtag on facebook ... but none of the posts here (where it started) use it?

Instead, it is a happy tag by the Diversity Industm.ry. Huh. Shame if something should happen to it. Ahem.

Webb, heal thyself

I guess you have to follow the lead dog of your sled.

First there is Sen. Obama (D-IL) speech on patriotism (sic) where he made the goofy comment to the effect, "I won't question anyone's patriotism, so don't you dare question mine." What a weird attempt of auto-inoculation. There are a lot of things out there to throw at Sen. McCain (R-AZ), I know I have thrown them in the past, but not being patriotic isn't one of them.

Obama is open to that charge (though I won't make it) because of who he hangs out with from Pastor Wright to Weatherman terrorist Ayers to the gaggle far-left supporters.

He does this while his house General smears McCain's military service. Now Sen. Webb (D-VA) has bumbled into the issue.

"I think what we really need to work on over the next four, five months, and it goes back to the speech that Sen. Obama gave [Monday] and this little fight that I've been watching and that is, we need to make sure that we take politics out of service," Webb said. "People don't serve their country for political issues."

He continued: "And John McCain's my long-time friend, if that is one area that I would ask him to calm down on, it`s that, don't be standing up and uttering your political views and implying that all the people in the military support them because they don't, any more than when the Democrats have political issues during the Vietnam War. Let's get the politics out of the military, take care of our military people, or have our political arguments in other areas."

Huh? When has McCain not been calm on this? Calm is an understatement; almost mute is more like it. McCain doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. And since when has he been seen "...standing up and uttering your political views and implying that all the people in the military support them because they don't, any more than when the Democrats have political issues during the Vietnam War."

What? My 8th Grade English teacher couldn't even diagram that sentence, and we are supposed to understand what the Webb is shooting for? I think what Webb is saying is, well, I don't know.

You don't need to understand really. What is going on is quite clear. The Democrats are trying to tear down McCain's strongest wall - his service in the military. Service, BTW, few if any living can match. This will, in the end, backfire on them - and what is frustrating them, Webb's statements to the contrary, is that McCain isn't rising to the bait. Most of the response is from the new media.

A quick review of the Active Duty military around show me that regardless of what they may think of McCain - almost everyone agrees that Wesley and his ilk are totally off the mark, and well out of bounds. That is probably reflected in the general public as well. As for Webb, his comments are mostly incoherent, disjointed from reality, and mostly smell like damage control. Especially coming from him, this is just too rich.

Let's get the politics out of the military...

Smearing the military with politics is how Webb got elected - and how he bully-boys everyone - that is his bread and butter. That is, however, perfectly in line with what Obama's "patriotism" speech was all about. Use a weapon all you want, and then blame your opponent for using the same one - even if the opponent hasn't used it.

I don't think I can call Webb the "h" word - but someone else can in comments for me if they want. I won't delete them.

This parallel universe attack McCain's military record is a cheap tactic, and doomed to failure.

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UPDATE: What happens when you start hanging out with Sailors? Well, ahem, Maggie will let you read about it.

Will spanks Webb

Senator-Elect Webb, please see the man with the round glasses and the bow-tie - he has your jock.

THAT WAS certainly swift. Washington has a way of quickly acculturating people, especially those who are most susceptible to derangement by the derivative dignity of office. But Jim Webb, Democratic senator-elect from Virginia, has become a pompous poseur and an abuser of the English language before actually becoming a senator.
...
Webb certainly has conveyed what he is: a boor. Never mind the patent disrespect for the Presidency. Webb's more gross offense was calculated rudeness toward another human being — one who, disregarding many hard things Webb had said about him during the campaign, asked a civil and caring question, as one parent to another. When — if ever — Webb grows weary of admiring his new grandeur as a "leader" who carefully calibrates the "symbolic things" he does to convey messages, he might consider this: In a republic, people decline to be led by leaders who are insufferably full of themselves.
...
In his novels and his political commentary, Webb has been a writer of genuine distinction, using language with care and precision. But just days after winning an election, he was turning out slapdash prose that would be rejected by a reasonably demanding high school teacher.

You really should read it all. Had me laughing. Lex liked it too.

He's all yours VA

You voted for him, you've got him. In my optimistic outlook (yes, I have one) - I had hope that Senator-elect Webb would be gone beyond his goofy campaign by now to be a sound, mature, reasoned voice. Well, scratch that.

At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. It’s safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won’t be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon.

What a petulant, narrow minded, immature response. My Mom and Dad have wanted me home for two decades and three major conflicts - but that isn't what they would have told the President if he asked them about me. The election is over Webb - get the Moonbat extracted out of your ass (say that about Webb while I can) - it is still speaking for you - and it isn't all about YOU. You have important things to do. Chop, chop!

The tangled Webb we weave

OK, the Senator James "2-clip" Webb (D-VA) story just gets more and more strange. Get the details here, but in summary Webb's aide if facing felony charges, after spending a night in jail (yea, ponder that support), after taking a loaded gun with two magazines through a metal detector. The gun belonged to the Senator who said today, I saw it but can't find the link, that he needs one because a Senator doesn't have the same protection as the President.

That is all fine, heck I have a CCW, but there are rules that should be followed. Webb has a CCW for VA, but not DC or MD. Besides the Senator's strange deer-in-the-headlights response to his aide picking up the wrong bag (that is what I think happened) - there is this quote. Let's parse, shall we?

“I have never carried a gun in the Capitol complex and I did not give the weapon to Phillip Thompson, and that’s all that I think I’ll say,” Webb told reporters.

---OK, have you carried a gun in your person or in your car while in DC? Have you carried it in other locations in DC besides the Capitol complex?

---Define "..gave.." in the context you mean it. Are you saying that it was stolen? Are you saying that you did not give him that gun, in that bag, at that time, at that location? Why do you think he had it with him?

---"..all that I think I'll say.." What else is there to say? You seem to hold the President to a standard of disclosure about things many orders of magnitude greater than your aide picking up the wrong bag - where else is there that you won't say? Why?

A profile in something. Not impressive.

To be clear about something - I know Sen. Webb is a 2nd Am. supporter. As a gun nut myself, I appreciate that very much. That being said, he is a member of a Party whose leaders want to take away his right to a CCW and is responsible for his aide now facing a felony charge. Wouldn't this now be a good chance for the Junior Senator from VA to join Sen. Stevens (R-AK) in repealing the DC gun ban?

Now that would be a profile in courage - political courage for a Democrat. Senator Webb is not a coward. I wish he would turn this event into something positive.

Sec. Webb: my kingdom for a Craney Island

Skippy isn't going to like this.

Picture that you have a former Sec. of the Army who is running for Senate in Kentucky. In a debate, he is asked about Fort Knox, and he has never heard of it.

Well, former SECNAV Webb of Reagan Administration fame/infamy, is running as a Democrat against Senator Allen of VA. Things are not going well.

Republican Sen. George Allen has a 16-point lead over Democratic challenger Jim Webb in the latest independent statewide poll, published Sunday, but a fifth of the electorate is still undecided. ...

Forty-eight percent backed Allen and 32 percent supported Webb in the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. survey of registered voters likely to vote in the Nov. 7 election.

The Democrats had a shot here. What seems to have sunk him? During a debate, this exchange took place,

Allen asked: "Jim, what's your position on the proper use of Craney Island?"

Webb replied, candidly: "I'm not sure where Craney Island is. Why don't you tell me?"

No doubt feeling very pleased, Allen replied: "Craney Island's in Virginia."

Yes, former SECNAV doesn't know Craney Island is in VA. Hint, it is right under the big trapezoid looking thing here. It is a little important to VA and the Navy too,

Craney Island Fuel Terminal, Portsmouth, Virginia is the Navy's largest fuel facility in the United States. It possesses 1100 acres (4.45 E6 m2) of above- and below- ground fuel storage tanks.
...

The Captain gives no quarter.

Craney Island supports tens of thousands of jobs and serves as a major refueling port on the Atlantic Coast. It also has plenty of historical significance for a state that practically serves history with every breakfast. Ignorance of its significance painted Webb as a lightweight, and the new polling demonstrates that plenty of Virginians paid attention.

Ouch. Lesson Learned here, Shipmate. "I'm against Bush and the war...." will only get you so far. There is a lot more to being a Senator than helping a national party gain power. Much more.

Hat tip Captain's Quarters.

Properly focused energy in the Senate

With every day's news reminding him how wrong he has been about Iraq since he took the Junior Senator's seat for Virginia, it is good to see Sen. Webb (D-VA) teaming up with his fellow Virginian to do something constructive with his energy. An update on the new G.I. Bill.

Virginia's two U.S. senators announced a breakthrough agreement Thursday on a new GI Bill to underwrite college costs for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The multibillion-dollar deal dramatically increases the proposal's chances of passage this year.

"This is a landmark piece of legislation," said Sen. John Warner, a senior Republican who joined with Sen. Jim Webb, a freshman Democrat, in unveiling the proposal on the Senate floor.
...
The bill unveiled Thursday is an outgrowth of legislation Webb introduced last year on his first day in the Senate. It would provide for government payment of in-state tuition plus a monthly expense allowance for vets attending publicly supported colleges.

Veterans attending private colleges would be eligible for tuition aid equal to the cost of the most expensive publicly supported school in their states. The private schools could enroll in a cost-sharing plan to help the vets pay higher tuitions, with the government providing $1 of additional aid for every $1 provided by the school.

"This bill challenges the academic community to step up and join the all-volunteer force," Warner said. U.S. campuses enjoy a tradition of academic freedom in large part thanks to the sacrifices of service members, he suggested.

The new bill's subsidies would be a dramatic boost from the aid provided to veterans under the existing GI Bill, which was enacted in the 1980s. The benefits would be slightly less generous than those extended to World War II-era veterans like Warner, however.

The current GI bill provides vets with an average of $6,000 a year in college aid, Webb said. The World War II-era bill covered all tuition costs at public and private colleges, and provided a monthly cost-of-living stipend as well.

Warner said he almost certainly would not have been able to obtain his undergraduate degree at Washington and Lee University or his law degree at the University of Virginia without the assistance of the original GI bill. The 81-year-old Republican joined the Navy and served in the final months of World War II, then returned to duty as a Marine Corps reservist during the Korean War.

Webb got his undergraduate degree at government expense at the U.S. Naval Academy. He attended law school at Georgetown University on the GI Bill after serving as a Marine platoon leader in Vietnam.

Thanks Senators. And do a favor for Skippy and slap Dr. Chu around some when you get the chance.

Senator Webb - call your office

In January 1999, now Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) publised an article in Proceedings titled, The Silence of the Admirals. It is behind the membership wall - so you now have another reason to join USNI.

I'll be nice though and get a pull quote for you. Let me babble a bit first.

Only after it was pointed out to me and I read it did I remember reading it over a decade ago. A little embarassed that I didn't remember it as of late. Reading it a third time I realized how much it was an influence in the then LCDR Salamander - a "I'm not alone" moment in the pre-blogg'n world.

The junior officers he is speaking of are todays CDR and CAPT - my generation.

The problem then also applies to the problem we see now. Bask.

Military subservience to political control applies to existing policy, not to policy debates. The political process requires the unfettered opinions of military leaders, and military leaders who lack the courage to offer such opinions are just as accountable to their people as the politicians who have secured their silence.

The silence of the admirals as the fleet shrinks and their sailors continue to do more with less has not gone unnoticed. An October 1998 Proceedings article pointing out that only one in ten Navy junior officers in a recent study aspires to command—and that number not even addressing the issue of quality—is an ominous warning. A lot of reasons were given, but two messages came through loud and clear. The first was that money alone won't solve the problem. Americans never have been mercenaries, and although it is the duty of their leaders to provide for their well-being, they cannot be bought. The second was an overwhelming disenchantment with the Navy's senior leaders. I heard these same two messages again and again during a recent discussion with junior aviators in Japan.

This breakdown in the junior officer corps is troubling, for it hints of a fundamental change in the Navy's culture, probably fueled in equal parts by the Goldwater-Nichols legislation and the effects of the Tailhook scandal on Navy leadership. Command is tough, risky, lonely—the most challenging job an officer can have. But it also is the very emblem of traditional military service. It is what dedicated officers always have lived for and aspired to. ...

These young officers did not come into the Navy with this attitude. The circumstances of their careers have inflicted it on them.

When leadership fails, sometimes a fundamental shift overtakes a unit, or a military service, or a nation, that is so profound that it can change an entire ethos. Most often it occurs gradually, not because of decisions taken by senior leaders so much as from their inaction, an acquiescence to insistent, incremental pressures generated from the outside. Usually, the leaders, reacting to and sometimes overwhelmed by these pressures, are the ones who comprehend the changes the least, and in some cases cannot perceive what has happened until it is too late for them to protect even their own legacy.

Let's hope that this will not be the epitaph for a U.S. Navy on its way to 200 ships and a third-rate future. Its history, its traditions, and its special place at the center of all that is great about this country demand that those who serve—of whatever rank and level of experience—do what they can to explain to the American people that the Navy must be led from within, that what has happened over the past ten years is not right, and that what is left is not enough.

I've bragged about warning about a 220 ship Navy for years ... but Webb was calling 200 ships 11 years ago. A nod to James.

Here is my question - where is Senator Webb now when his Navy needs him the most? His silence about what was done to USNA over the last half-decade is bad enough; but the rest as well?

Where is your leadership Sen. Webb? You have the power. Your Navy needs you.

---

UPDATE: Hey - it's up on USNIBlog. Give the full thing a read.

Give Sen. Webb (D-VA) a cowbell ...

Because I want to hear him bang it again, and again, and again.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., is pressing the Defense Department for justification of why the military has so many flag and general officers, ... In the case of flag and general officers, Webb said he wants an explanation why the number of senior officers continues to grow. He has not concluded there are too many, but is asking why there are so many, and what exactly they are all doing. Those kinds of questions began Glenn’s multi-year push to reduce the number of admirals and generals, which he based on the officer-to-enlisted ratio and termed “brass creep.”

Defense Department statistics show there were 38 four-stars, 149 three-stars, 299 two-stars and 464 one-stars on active duty at the end of March.

Webb also said he is not happy to have learned that there are officers taking part in fellowships at advocacy think tanks in the Washington, D.C., area, receiving full military pay and benefits, while the government is paying tuition to the think tanks. He has been trying for months to get details from the Defense Department about the number of officers involved, and an explanation of how the fellowships benefit the military more than the think tanks, but he said he has received only a small amount of information that did not answer his questions.

He warned that he might resort to holding up all Defense Department civilian nominations if he does not get the requested information. “The Department of Defense invented computer technology and the internet, despite what some other people might claim. This kind of information should not take three months to get. I should not be put in a situation where I have to put a hold on nominations to get it,” he said.

After recovering from his Iraq epic fail, unfortunate amnesia about strategic homeporting, and the fact that he no longer has to defend Murtha - I think Senator Webb (D-VA) may have found his grove.

Senator - BZ - and keep digging. It gets nastier the deeper you go.

+1.

Why Listen to Jim Webb?

There is goodness in the creative friction between Berger’s neo-transformationalist movement within the USMC - you can read the meaty parts here - and the traditionalist pushback whose default head for now seems to be Jim Webb.

There has been a lot of back and forth the last couple of months that I have mostly ignored on the blog. I think the issue has seasoned well enough to start the week on the topic.

I’ve had on and off issues with Webb through the years, and that bias of mine kept me away from reading his article closely. On second reading, his opening stuck with me.

I keep coming back to it.

On September 4, 2002, five months before the invasion of Iraq, this writer warned in an editorial for the Washington Post that “China can only view the prospect of an American military consumed for the next generation by the turmoil of the Middle East as a glorious windfall . . . An ‘American war’ with the Muslims, occupying the very seat of their civilization, would allow the Chinese to isolate the United States diplomatically as they furthered their own ambitions in South and Southeast Asia.”

He was right. From that point, you can see the see of the rage that drove his political action.

On Berger’s neo-transformationalist drive, I think we should pause to consider Webb’s strong and informed warning.

Interestingly, when citing his philosophical inspiration at the outset of his proposal, General Berger chose to ignore two centuries of innovative and ground-breaking role models who guided the Marine Corps through some of its most difficult challenges. The giants of the past—John LeJeune, Arthur Vandegrift, Clifton Cates, Robert Barrow and Al Gray, just for starters—were passed over, in favor of a quote from a professor at the Harvard Business School who never served. Many Marines, past and present, view this gesture as a symbolic putdown of the Corps’ respected leadership methods and the historic results they have obtained.

It is fun an sexy to say that you, or someone you follow, all of a sudden see the future clearly as no one else does … that you are smarter and more perceptive than those who came before. That you are progressive with a new look on a new frontier.

One must move forward, we must evolve. We always do … but it must be grounded on the knowledge of how we got here.

Is Berger right? No.

Is Webb right? No.

The right path is somewhere in between.

What we don’t need are mindless advocacy on behalf of either, as if they received a gilded book from on high.

If history teaches us anything in combat it is that the war you get is rarely the war that you game. As former heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson once put it, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” In World War I the Germans were convinced they would defeat France in exactly forty-two days. Prior to World War II the French matched this folly by building a string of fortresses along the Maginot Line, leaving open the thickly forested Ardennes, which their war planners decided was impenetrable by a large-scale German attack. In 1941 the British were convinced that no military assault could overcome its shoreline defenses against an attack on their naval base in Singapore, then known as the unassailable “Gibraltar of Asia.” The Japanese army landed far to the north, then bicycled and marched its way down the Malayan Peninsula, attacking Singapore from behind and quickly smashing the stunned British and Australian defenders. Except for General Tomoyuki Yamashita the Japanese high command was not usually that brilliant. Its pre-war plan of fixed defenses on island redoubts throughout Pacific Asia backfired spectacularly, and their inability to adapt after their unexpectedly quick victories at the beginning of the war allowed American resilience and control over the sea and the air to destroy their gains.

... 

None of these debacles were the result of a failure in new technologies. All were the failure of faulty planning and especially of the miscalculations of those at the highest levels of command.

Webb almost gets it

Rarely have we seen such a loss of potential than Sen. Webb (D-VA). He cannot get past the fact that he is/was wrong on Iraq and now is mostly used by his party as Sen. Reid's (D-NV) designated blind-partisanship ankle-biter.

Ignore all the partisan BS in th article and you will, however, find some truth.

"Three hundred thirteen can't do it, I can't see, in the long run," Webb said. "We're building one (submarine) per year and the Chinese are building three per year. We need a strategy based on the United States being a maritime nation, and the United States should be a sea power."
...
"Simply stated, we are decommissioning Navy ships faster than we are building them," he said. "It is imperative that we reverse this steady slide in shipbuilding."

Yes, but lets talk design, cost per hull and good vs. perfect. Money is important, but so is what you buy for it. If he did more of this, and less of playing bitter-boy, I would have more respect for him.

Why, you may ask, do I snipe at the distinguished Senator from Virginia? Well, read the whold article, and most of the public uttering coming from him over the last few months - absorb it, then without laughing read this.

"We have economic issues, and we have issues of national security and military policy. At the same time, we have way too much bickering in this government," Webb said. "It is extremely frustrating."
...
"We've got to get into the political process the notion that the issues confronting us are greater than political parties," he said.

Pot; kettle.

Taking only pictures, leaving only footprints ...

So, it looks like Jim Webb is going to punch out after one tour.

Virginia Senator Jim Webb plans to announce today that he won't seek reelection, a senior Senate source said.

Webb appeared likely to face a rematch with former Senator George Allen, whom he beat in a bruising 2006 contest. He had expressed ambivalence about the prospect of another run, and has said he never planned a life in politics.

Though I have had issues with him since his tongue bath of that despicable Murtha in 2006 he gave as his price to be invited in the Democrat farm team - I always thought that on other issues he could use his background as a voice for many that do not have anyone speaking for them.

I had hope that we would hear from him more about USNA - but no, look what happened there for most of Webb's term and the silence from him is deafening.

He wrote a great OP-ED about the Diversity Industry's ugly fetish - but after that; not much. Sad, he could have done so much, but didn't.

As our Fleet went from robust to exquisite - he has been relatively silent except for the worst of all parochial VA politics of keeping all our East Coast CVN in his State.

His major driver for running for Senate seemed to be Iraq. Time has proven him mostly wrong on Iraq - so that drive isn't there today. Even though - he still had so much potential. You know me, I don't ask for perfect - just good. He had so much potential to be a good Democrat. I wish I could have praised him more and make Skippy gloat - but alas, it wasn't to be.

Hopefully, like Fred Thompson, he has just decided to get out of DC while he still felt normal - that or as I thought awhile ago, he just wasn't that into being a Democrat in the 21st Century. I wish him well - and though I disagreed with much he supported, I thank him for his service. I just wish he had done more where his skills and knowledge were most needed.

Sen. Webb (D-VA), meet ADM Rouhead (CNO-Diversity)

If there is any justice in this world - Admiral Roughead will have to explain in detail the Navy's efforts on Diversity and the steps he has made to hold officers "accountable" for their numbers.

Senator Webb (D-VA) comes out of the box so intensely Salamanderesque that I can do little more then require everyone to read his latest from the WSJ. Judging from my email, many of you had.

This is so good you want to get nakid and roll around in it, paper cuts be d@mned - read it all!

I have dedicated my political career to bringing fairness to America's economic system and to our work force, regardless of what people look like or where they may worship. Unfortunately, present-day diversity programs work against that notion, having expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now favor anyone who does not happen to be white.

In an odd historical twist that all Americans see but few can understand, many programs allow recently arrived immigrants to move ahead of similarly situated whites whose families have been in the country for generations. These programs have damaged racial harmony. And the more they have grown, the less they have actually helped African-Americans, the intended beneficiaries of affirmative action as it was originally conceived.

Yes; he comes off the top-rope.

Discrimination laws should be applied equally among all citizens, including those who happen to be white. The need for inclusiveness in our society is undeniable and irreversible, both in our markets and in our communities. Our government should be in the business of enabling opportunity for all, not in picking winners. It can do so by ensuring that artificial distinctions such as race do not determine outcomes.

Memo to my fellow politicians: Drop the Procrustean policies and allow harmony to invade the public mindset. Fairness will happen, and bitterness will fade away.

I would add that everything the government does should be color blind - and the military unquestionably should be. As we know though, the Diversity Industry and the Navy's branch, the Diversity Bullies, don't and won't let it because it feeds their racialist ideas and fills their pocketbooks.

If you want to see the latest outrage - you will need to make sure and catch Diversity Thursday next week - via one of my spies, it outlines how "accountability" is being operationalized. I would hope that next-Thursday's post will make it to one of Senator Webb's staffer's hands. If it will upset him half as much as it will upset you when you read it - then there might be a chance to fix this cancer that is eating our integrity from the inside out.

Senator Webb, I have disagreed with you on some areas - but that is fine and natural - but here you have 100% of my support and my greatest thanks for speaking out and saying what is true. You're good company.

Senators Warner & Webb: pure politics

We don't need to review the lessons of Pearl Harbor, Port Author, and others over and over again - do we? Senator Warner (R-VA) and Senator Webb (D-VA) play a lot off their times as SECNAV and their "national security credentials" in their jobs in the Senate. They just tainted their brand among professionals.

Just because you say it doesn't mean it is true, or that others will not question it - even if you are a Senator. When you say things that cannot be supported by any study of history or study of the realities of warfare in the 21st century - then expect your word to be treated for what it is.

On Mayport's CVN - military-industrial pork barrel politics as basic as it gets.

Virginia officials are asking the Navy to delay its plan to base a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Mayport until President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

U.S. Sens. John Warner and Jim Webb and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said Thursday the plan to create a new homeport for a carrier in Mayport, instead of using the nuclear-capable one at Norfolk, is “strategically flawed ...”
...
The Navy said it chose Florida in order to spread out its Atlantic fleet beyond Norfolk. But Warner and Webb, both former Secretaries of the Navy and members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, said the Florida base offers no strategic advantage over Norfolk.

“Moving a carrier to Mayport does very little to mitigate risk to the carrier fleet,” Warner, R-Va., said in a news release.

Shame on both of you. The money part of the argument (you can read that in the article) is fair game - especially if you know that the Obama Administration will act according to its nature and gut the military - but to make statements like you did about Strategic issues WRT Fleet Risk and Strategic Homeporting is just sad. Sad.

What a tangled Webb .....

Well, I guess those MoveOn.org and DailyKos types are sure getting their money's worth...

MR. RUSSERT: But many Democrats have said, “We want to stop the funding for the war, period.”

SEN. WEBB: And I think that’s just not a winning formula.

Snicker. They should be careful how much they go after Sen. Webb (D-VA) - if he is true to type, once he feels his opinion isn't loved enough, he will quit and go home.

Funny, first Murtha, now Webb - I guess a lot of, ahem, esteemed Congressional members have perhaps realized that the USS Victory isn't sinking and perhaps it is best to climb back up that line and get back on board. Perhaps.

James Webb - Where He Is Best

Regulars here know that I've had some issues with James Webb through the years, dating back to when he started defending Murtha in a prep for his run as a Democrat as a Senator.

A lot of people got excited when he ran for President this year, but I knew he wouldn't last. Like he was a 1-term Senator, he really isn't a politician. He doesn't have the stomach for the BS. He is something else - he is a thinker. He is an observer. He is an author.

He also speaks for a lot of America that the usual sources of information do not understand any more. He reminds me so much of my father in many ways. Mostly because they share the same background.

I would highly recommend to you the following speech he gave last month; Foreign Policy in America's Interest: Keynote Address Jim Webb.

This is Webb at his best.

Sen. Webb, Rick - look to SES next

It may take a few years, but eventually Congress and the press catches up to Salamander.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s personnel panel, said he is studying historical trends to determine why senior ranks are growing but is not ready to do anything about it.

“This is not intended to be an adversarial hearing,” he said Wednesday as defense and service officials appeared before him to discuss how needs are determined. “This is an area we are just beginning to get a look at.”

But while Webb may not be ready to act, one witness said something is definitely amiss.

“The average general and admiral has nearly 500 fewer uniformed personnel under command today than in 1991,” said Ben Freeman of the Project on Government Oversight, a federal watchdog group.

Sen Webb (D-VA) - no please, be adversarial; we've been worrying about your testosterone levels for years.

... and when did you first hear about POGO? Midrats of course. Now, on with the goodness in Rick's article in Navy Times;

Some 964 flag and general officers are in the force today, down from 1,017 at the end of the Cold War. The total force, however, has dropped by 600,000, a much steeper decrease.

The 30 percent drop in the overall force against a 15 percent-drop in flag and general officers has created “star creep,” said Freeman, who endorsed Graham’s idea of also studying growth in senior civilians.

They may force you to sit through Lean Six-Sigma .... they may twist "lean" in to your FITREP somehow ... but when it comes to their own there is but but one word; fat.

You can read all of POGO's Ben Freeman's testimony here.

If they really want to ponder top-heavy ineffeciency - then look to the SES gaggle. Verily.

No more LCS-4

Told you so. Money talks.

Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced today that the Department of the Navy is terminating construction of the fourth littoral combat ship (LCS 4) for convenience under the termination clause of the contract because the Navy and General Dynamics could not reach agreement on the terms of a modified contract.

The Navy had not yet authorized construction on LCS 4, following a series of cost overruns on LCS 2. The Navy intended to begin construction of LCS 4 if the Navy and General Dynamics could agree on the terms for a fixed-price incentive agreement. The Navy worked closely with General Dynamics to try to restructure the agreement for LCS 4 to more equitably balance cost and risk, but could not come to terms and conditions that were acceptable to both parties.

The Navy remains committed to the LCS program. “LCS continues to be a critical warfighting requirement for our Navy to maintain dominance in the littorals and strategic choke points around the world,” said Winter. “While this is a difficult decision, we recognize that active oversight and strict cost controls in the early years are necessary to ensuring we can deliver these ships to the fleet over the long term.”

“I am absolutely committed to the Littoral Combat Ship,” said Roughead. “We need this ship. It is very important that our acquisition efforts produce the right littoral combat ship capability to the fleet at the right cost.”

I won't argue with the CNO, but, um , ... heh.

Speaking of a Fleet we cannot afford,

House and Senate negotiators on the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill are at odds over a provision in the House-passed measure that would require the Navy to make its future fleet of surface combatants nuclear powered.

The Navy is building nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines, but the House language would establish that it is the "policy of the United States" to use nuclear power for all major vessels, including destroyers and cruisers.

For a rare moment, I find myself in agreement with Sen. Webb (D-VA).

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., another Armed Services Committee member and a former Navy secretary, said he generally supported using nuclear energy on large vessels, but was opposed to issuing a mandate to the Navy that the service may not be able to carry out.

"In theory I support it," Webb said. "The question is the practicality."

Sen. Collins (R-ME) is right on target as well.

The up-front costs of nuclear-powered vessels are estimated at $600 million to $800 million more per ship than conventionally powered vessels.

"It is considerably more expensive to build a nuclear-powered ship in the first place," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. "Given that we are already underfunding shipbuilding, I'm concerned that that means we'll be further away from reaching the [Navy's] goal of a 313-ship fleet."

Yep. 200 and change is looking more and more like it. Contract building VISBY or NANSEN not that far out of the box now, is it?