Sunday Funnies

Warning Kristen; a little potty mouth. As we all know, in Naval aviation ....

USMC at the pivot; on Midrats

Back to our normal 1-hr format, and back to The Corps.

This Sunday, 16 January 2011 from 5-6pm EST, join EagleOne and me as we look at where the USMC is heading.

After a decade as a land army, its future combat systems either cancelled, delayed, or under pressure, and a Navy that finds itself getting shore-shy, what is the next step for the USMC?

We'll be spending the entire hour discussing this and more with returning guest, Dakota Wood, Lt. Col., USMC (Ret), a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Join us live if you can, and pile in with the usual suspects in the chat room during the show where you can offer your own questions and observations to our guests. If you miss the show or want to catch up on the shows you missed - you can always reach the archives at blogtalkradio - or set yourself to get the podcast on iTunes.

Listen to Midrats on Blog Talk Rad

Fullbore Friday

Can we have a macro-FbF? Of course we can - this is my blog afterall.

In case you have been in a cave for the last year - 2011 is the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation.

In September 1910, a keen-minded engineer named Washington Irving Chambers became the central point of contact for aviation matters in the Navy Department. During his three years on the job, Captain Chambers devoted all his energies and intellect to generating interest in aviation in the U.S. Navy and to stimulating research in aerodynamics. Naval aviation soon took its first tentative steps toward going to sea. Glenn Curtiss and Eugene Ely showed the world that airplanes could operate from a man-of-war; the first cadre of pilots was trained; and naval officers flew airplanes from catapults.

Get a fresh cup of coffee and head on over to the USNI's festival of 13XX Fullbore.

And remember - it isn't academic. There is a reason that Gen. Mattis and ADM Stavridis are such supporters of the study of history - as all professionals are - it is because it gives you a window into the future and provides a foundation to making decisions today.

Word of the Day

solemnity [səˈlɛmnɪtɪ]
noun
1. the state or quality of being solemn
2. (often plural) solemn ceremony, observance, celebration, etc.
3. (Law) Law a formality necessary to validate a deed, act, contract, etc.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

---

Antonym:

pep rally [pp rl]
Noun
1. - a rally (especially of students) before a game
mass meeting, rally - a large gathering of people intended to arouse enthusiasm

Diversity Thursday

We watched last year as the U.S. Coast Guard Academy was mau-mau'd away from a meritocracy towards - literally - a place where Congress removed a prohibition to NOT discriminate against anyone based on race, creed, color, or national origin.

Seriously - click here for review.

So, where does that put them now? Oh, of course - ear deep in the Diversity Industry's fetid scab of sectarianism and grievance; candy coated racist policies and hiring those who judge people first by the color of their skin, and not the content of their character.

Of course - they cannot be that blunt about it. No. They want to create a smoke cloud of verbiage to hide what they are doing. They aren't too good at it, but if they can get away with it and get a paycheck, why not?

First of all; if one does not like reality - what does one do?

Create a new one - of course!

If you read the latest issue of the USCGA Alumni Bulletin you will stumble across a new term, "Equity Scorecard."

Now, I am about to mention a person here - but it really isn't about him - though in this case he is central to the story. He is just a Junior Officer in the evil army of the Diversity Industry. He is just doing what he thinks is his duty. We just have a different view of things. He thinks it is good to first and foremost view a person by their race; I do not. Give him the benefit of the doubt that he is a good person - he just supports poor ideas.

I sleep well at night - maybe he does too. On with the show.

Equity Scorecard is mentioned obliquely in an article by the Coast Guard Academy's Director of Diversity. Again, I am sure he is a nice guy - but boy is he steeped in something he really needs to see a therapist about.

Almost a cliche, he has a BA and a MA in Comparative Literature/Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley. Rumor has it he is working on his Ph.D. there in Comparative Ethnic Studies as well. He was in school from '92-98 ... did something for seven years, then wound up at USCG in 2005. Check out his LinkedIn profile.

I guess he really doesn't have a choice but to do this for a living. With that degree you are almost unemployable unless you teach or administrate. Your only skill is thinking about race and seeing everything, including the language, in racialist terms. Ick. Life is too short.

Based on this interview, I don't think he would disagree withe me.

CT: What attracted you personally to a career in working with diversity? What made you interested in that?

FARIAS: Well, I didn’t start out thinking I wanted to be an administrator. I don’t think anyone really begins and says, “I want to be an administrator.” When I started I went to college at UC Berkeley and I did Comparative Literature as an undergrad. And I did Comp. Lit. because it allowed me to do Spanish literature, it allowed me to do English literature, and history, so I wasn’t pigeonholed into doing just one or the other. I found that a lot of things made sense and a lot of things didn’t make sense about my previous education.

OK; whatever works for you.

Back to the Equity Scorecard. The Executive Summary is that it enables you to get around objective criteria to meet ethnic bean-counting goals. You demand, and then enforce, a view that there must be equality of outcomes. Everyone must be classified - even if they don't want to or cannot be. You know, make institutional racism sound scientific and nice - and give it administrative teeth (with the job security that goes with it).

This is their (their refers to the Diversity Industry) explanation:

The UW System Equity Scorecard involves eleven volunteer UW institutions in a process of sustained inquiry, using disaggregated data to identify more refined pathways and strategies for eliminating inequities in educational opportunities and outcomes. The Equity Scorecard (EqS) is designed to foster institutional change in higher education. It seeks to foster educational excellence through closing the achievement gap for historically underrepresented students. Dr. Estela Bensimon and her team from the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California developed the Equity Scorecard when it became evident that equity, while valued, had not been explicitly measured in relation to educational outcomes for traditionally underserved and/or underrepresented students in higher education.

Let's go to their PPT, you see - this isn't about equal access - this is about equal outcomes.

“We must deliberately and energetically remove the conditions that deny or impede equitable outcomes for all students. The Diversity Scorecard is a tool and a process to help campuses assess their effectiveness in providing historically underrepresented students with the credentials they will need to gain economic, social, and political power.”

Estela Mara Bensimon, “The Diversity Scorecard: A Learning Approach to Institutional Change,” Change Magazine (January/February 2004).

See, you don't earn a degree - you are provided one.

Ahhhh, yes - the counterproductive "A" word.

The Accountability Side of Diversity

“…[These] are evidence based practices that will make individuals more conscious of the state of educational outcomes for historically underserved students and will enable them to act purposefully.”

Estela Mara Bensimon
The Accountability Side of Diversity

Make the numbers work, our you will be punished.

The Diversity Industry wants one thing - everyone to act in the same racist manner that they do.

At USCG, our local Diversity Bully describes the Equity Scorecard as

"...a database tool designed to help colleges and universities utilize existing institutional data to identity academic inequities between student groups."

A final bit of "I can't make this stuff up," he is a member of one group on LinkedIn.

ISYN, it is called "Tribal Leadership."

Tribal Leadership is a management consulting methodology that enhances an organizations performance to achieve outstanding and unprecedented results. This group is for consultants, trainers and business leaders to explore how to use this methodology to achieve their business objections.

I don't know ... you figure that out.

When is the IRAD?

It would be nice to see an O-7 to O-10 version of this first, but such is life today.

R 122143Z JAN 11
FM CNO WASHINGTON DC
TO NAVADMIN
ZEN//OU=DOD/OU=NAVY/OU=ADDRESS LISTS(UC)/CN=AL
NAVADMIN(UC)
INFO ZEN/CNO WASHINGTON DC
BT
UNCLAS
QQQQ
SUBJ: FY12 ACTIVE COMPONENT UNRESTRICTED LINE CAPTAIN AND COMMANDER SELECTIVE EARLY RETIREMENT BOARD UNCLASSIFIED//
FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1//
TO NAVADMIN
UNCLAS//N01800//
NAVADMIN 006/11
MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/JAN//
SUBJ/FY12 ACTIVE COMPONENT UNRESTRICTED LINE CAPTAIN AND COMMANDER SELECTIVE EARLY RETIREMENT BOARD//
RMKS/1. THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY HAS APPROVED THE CONVENING OF AN FY12 ACTIVE COMPONENT (AC) UNRESTRICTED LINE (URL) CAPTAIN AND COMMANDER SELECTIVE EARLY RETIREMENT (SER) BOARD IN JULY 2011. ALL OFFICERS MEETING STATUTORY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA OUTLINED IN PARA 5 IN THE GENERAL UNRESTRICTED LINE, SURFACE WARFARE, SUBMARINE WARFARE, SPECIAL WARFARE, SPECIAL OPERATIONS, GENERAL AVIATION, AND AVIATION WARFARE COMMUNITIES WILL BE CONSIDERED BY THE SER BOARD.
2. HIGH RETENTION, REDUCTION IN OFFICER BILLETS AND LOW ATTRITION AMONG AC URL SENIOR OFFICERS HAS RESULTED IN AN EXCESS OF THESE OFFICERS. A SER BOARD WILL BE CONDUCTED TO BALANCE THE FORCE, REDUCE SENIOR OFFICER EXCESS, AND ENSURE SUFFICIENT SENIOR OFFICERS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE RIGHT TIME IN THEIR CAREERS TO SERVE IN CRITICAL FLEET BILLETS. THE BOARD WILL CONSIDER THE RECORD OF EVERY ELIGIBLE OFFICER; CONSIDERATIONS IN DETERMINING WHERE RETIREMENT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE NAVY WILL INCLUDE LEADERSHIP, INTEGRITY AND PROVEN AND SUSTAINED SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE.
3. THE SER BOARD COMPLIES WITH STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS OF TITLE 10, UNITED STATES CODE, SECTION 638 AND CONFORMS TO DODI 1332.32 AND SECNAVINST 1920.60 AS A MEANS TO MANAGE OFFICER STRENGTH EXCESS.
4. CURRENT PROJECTIONS INDICATE THE SER BOARD WILL SELECT APPROXIMATELY 100 CAPTAINS AND 100 COMMANDERS FOR EARLY RETIREMENT. THESE NUMBERS MAY BE ADJUSTED BASED ON THE VOLUME OF VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT REQUESTS RECEIVED PRIOR TO THE BOARD. THE SER BOARD WILL CONSIDER THE RECORDS OF THE FOLLOWING OFFICERS:
A. ALL AC URL CAPTAINS WITH AT LEAST FOUR YEARS TIME IN GRADE AS OF 1 JULY 2011 AND WHOSE NAME IS NOT ON A LIST OF OFFICERS RECOMMENDED FOR PROMOTION.
B. ALL AC URL COMMANDERS WHO HAVE TWICE FAILED FOR PROMOTION TO O-6 AND WHOSE NAME IS NOT ON A LIST OF OFFICERS RECOMMENDED FOR PROMOTION.
5. BY LAW, THE SER BOARD CANNOT CONSIDER THE RECORDS OF OFFICERS WITH STATUTORY RETIREMENTS IN FY11 OR FY12, WHO ARE ON A RECOMMENDED PROMOTION LIST, OR HAVE AN APPROVED FY11 OR FY12 VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT. FURTHER, OFFICERS CONSIDERED BY THE FY12 SER BOARD MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED AGAIN FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS.
6. A SEPARATE NAVADMIN IDENTIFYING THE SENIOR AND JUNIOR IN ZONE OFFICERS ELIGIBLE WILL BE RELEASED 30 DAYS PRIOR TO THE CONVENING OF THE JULY 2011 SER BOARD. THE NUMBER OF OFFICERS RECOMMENDED TO GO BEFORE THE BOARD AND SELECTED FOR EARLY RETIREMENT WILL BE BASED ON ACTUAL FY11 END STRENGTH, FY12 STRENGTH AUTHORIZATIONS AND APPROVED FY12 VOLUNTARY RETIREMENTS.
7. STAFF AND RESTRICTED LINE OFFICERS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED BY THIS BOARD. FUTURE USE OF SER BOARDS WILL BE EVALUATED ANNUALLY, BY GRADE AND COMMUNITY.
8. OFFICERS WHO WISH TO BE EXEMPTED FROM CONSIDERATION BY THE FY12 SER BOARD MAY SUBMIT A VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT REQUEST NLT 1 APRIL 2011 WITH A REQUESTED RETIREMENT DATE OF 1 SEPTEMBER 2012 OR EARLIER. ONCE THE VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT REQUEST IS APPROVED, THE OFFICER WILL BE REMOVED FROM CONSIDERATION BY THE BOARD. THESE REQUESTS MUST CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING SUBJECT LINE: "VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT REQUEST PER NAVADMIN 006/11." RETIREMENT SUBMISSION TIMELINES OUTLINED IN MILPERSMAN ARTICLES 1800-020 AND 1810-020 ARE HEREBY WAIVED FOR REQUESTS TO BE EXEMPTED FROM BOARD. ALL OTHER RETIREMENT REQUESTS OUTSIDE OF THE PROVISIONS OF THIS NAVADMIN WILL ADHERE TO THE MILPERSMAN RETIREMENT SUBMISSION TIMELINE REQUIREMENTS. ONCE A RETIREMENT REQUEST IS APPROVED, IT CANNOT BE WITHDRAWN WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
9. OFFICERS SELECTED FOR EARLY RETIREMENT WILL BE INDIVIDUALLY NOTIFIED AFTER SECNAV APPROVES THE BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS. THE TARGET DATE FOR COMPLETION OF REVIEW AND NOTIFICATIONS OF SELECTED OFFICERS IS 1 SEPTEMBER 2011.
10. OFFICERS SELECTED FOR EARLY RETIREMENT MUST, BY LAW, RETIRE NO LATER THAN THE FIRST DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH FOLLOWING SECNAV APPROVAL OF THE BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS.
11. PERMANENT CHANGE OF STATION (PCS) POLICY.
A. OFFICERS UNDER ORDERS TO ROTATE PRIOR TO THE SER BOARD WILL EXECUTE THEIR ORDERS, REGARDLESS OF LOCATION OR DESTINATION.
B. THE MAJORITY OF ELIGIBLE OFFICERS WITH CURRENT PRDS BETWEEN 1 JULY AND 30 DECEMBER 2011 WILL NOT BE PLACED UNDER NEW PCS ORDERS UNTIL THE RESULTS OF THE SER BOARD ARE RELEASED. DUE TO OVERSEAS TOUR LENGTH RESTRICTIONS, OFFICERS CURRENTLY SERVING OCONUS WILL BE HANDLED ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS AND SHOULD WORK CLOSELY WITH THEIR DETAILERS REGARDING THEIR PCS OPTIONS WHILE AWAITING THE RESULTS OF THE BOARD.
C. OFFICERS SELECTED FOR EARLY RETIREMENT WILL CONTINUE PRESENT DUTY UNTIL THEIR MANDATORY RETIREMENT DATE, UNLESS EARLIER RETIREMENT IS REQUESTED AND APPROVED. NPC AND PARENT COMMANDS WILL WORK TO ACCOMMODATE INDIVIDUAL DESIRES OF RETIRING OFFICERS.
D. ELIGIBLE OFFICERS WHO ARE OCONUS AND AWAITING ARRIVAL OF FAMILY MEMBERS SHOULD CONSIDER DEFERRING FAMILY MEMBER MOVES UNTIL SER RESULTS ARE RELEASED.
E. THESE GUIDELINES ARE IN EFFECT UNTIL BOARD RESULTS ARE APPROVED. ONCE SER RESULTS ARE APPROVED, INDIVIDUAL DECISIONS CAN BE MADE REGARDING TRANSFER DATES, PERMISSIVE TEMPORARY DUTY (TDY) AND LEAVE. DUE TO THE SHORT TIME AVAILABLE FOR OFFICERS TO PLAN FOR TRANSITION, COMMANDS ARE ENCOURAGED, WITHIN OPERATIONAL CONSTRAINTS, TO BE AS FLEXIBLE AS POSSIBLE AUTHORIZING PERMISSIVE TEMPORARY DUTY AND TERMINAL LEAVE TO ASSIST OFFICERS MAKING THEIR TRANSITION. SPECIAL CONSIDERATION SHOULD BE GIVEN TO OFFICERS WHO ARE NOTIFIED OF EARLY RETIREMENT WHILE IN OVERSEAS ASSIGNMENTS OR DEPLOYED.
12. BY LAW, SECNAV MAY NOT DEFER THE EARLY RETIREMENT OF OFFICERS FOR MORE THAN 90 DAYS FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS OR PERSONAL HARDSHIP TO THE OFFICER. ANY REQUEST FOR DEFERRAL IS MADE ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS AND MUST BE GRANTED BY THE SECRETARY.
13. OFFICER RETIREMENTS BRANCH (PERS-83) IS AVAILABLE TO ANSWER GENERAL RETIREMENT QUESTIONS. THEY MAY BE REACHED AT (901)874-[redacted]/DSN 882. FOR QUESTIONS ABOUT PCS ORDERS, CONTACT YOUR DETAILER.
14. RELEASED BY VADM MARK FERGUSON, N1.//
BT
#1044
NNNN

Anyone else find it funny that they are dumping the warfighters first - keeping the eaters and shi'iters?

If anyone gets a copy of the board precept, email it to me when you get a chance, I'd love to read it.

Hmmm .... Didn't we just have a rush of "we don't have enough SWO CAPT and CDR ... " going on a couple of years ago?

Snort. Anyway fellas - it's up or out.

Oh, and for those who were not around in the early 90s and don't understand the title of the post - read this.

VCNO Goes Salamander

After awhile, does it get old saying, "We told you this years ago, over & over ... "?

Nawwww! Viva la FrontPorch!

The surface Navy’s optimal manning experiment is over, the Navy’s No. 2 officer declared in a speech before the Surface Navy Association’s national symposium on Tuesday.

“We’re going to effectively migrate, reconstitute in a way, the surface fleet afloat,” Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert told the audience of about 200 contractors, sailors and officers. “We’ve just taken too much risk in things like optimal manning and others and that’s pretty well documented.”

Here is where I blog through gritted teeth.

Sir, you (senior leadership) were told this years ago behind closed doors. You were told off the record by others. You actively silenced those who warned that optimal manning went against everything we knew about running, maintaining, and fighting a ship. You created a command climate where this was silenced due to no other reason than it supported some people's pet theories - reality be d@mned.

You designed a whole class of ships, LCS, LPD-17, and DDG-1000, around these concepts. The second and third order effects will be felt for decades. First with jury-rigged additional berthing for more crewmembers, and second with maintenance issues that even additional manning won't solve.

Worst of all - we have another data point from the lost decade that was 2000-2010 where our credibility in front of Congress, the taxpayer, and worst of all the Fleet was eroded to almost nothing.

The active campaign to silence all criticism of LCS, DDG-1000, Optimal Manning, and the rest of the pet projects of the transformationalists is now bearing fruit. Fruit you were warned about, and any objective review of hundreds of years of making ships and Sailors work would have warned you of as well.

It is one thing to go, "Oops." Now let's hear who made these decisions and why. Oh ... yea ... I see. Nevermind.

So, BZ for coming around before any more damage was done to the Fleet. Now take a deep breath and ask yourself, "What other pet projects promoted to support tender egos pursuing toxic agendas do we have left now that we have retreated from the revolutionary to the evolutionary and Optimal Manning?"

What other things have a proven, historical record of being destructive and unworkable? Hmmmmm ..... I'll give you something else to ponder. Visit here any Thursday to get a hint.

Hat tip Scott.