Quote:
Originally posted by justplugit
Navy Chief,could you comment on our military preparedness before year 2000?
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Lets see....There where a couple years that I wasn't sure I was going to get a paycheck at the end of the month.
We decommissioned more ships than we built.
Promotions were the lowest they had been in history.
Sometimes we didn't have money for fuel. Therefore our readiness was down because of lack of training. Sometimes we didn't have money for regular upkeep and maintainance.
Now, the ships that where commissioned are far more capable than the old ones. Most of those were funded during the George Sr administration. Being in the Navy during the Clinton administration was really aggravating.
As far as the military being overextended. I'm not really sure about that. The downsizing that's been going on under Clinton and also George Sr always had the Reserves and Guard units as an intergal part of the military. These units have been called up now and it's become a big issue. The active guys have been overworked. The last 3 years on my last ship we were underway over 700 days and did an 8 month deployment, preceeded by a 3 week inport period. But I, for one, understood the situation and dealt with it. #1 priority Mission Accomplishment, #2 priority, the troops. I think most of the troopers sucked it up also and were proud to serve in a time of crisis.