Casey Coane posted on February 01, 2006 16:44
February 2006 - Navy
by RADM Casey Coane
Just before Christmas, your Congress finally passed the Defense Authorization Bill. To say that it was overdue is an understatement of significant magnitude. It is indeed unfortunate that our military has been held hostage to partisan bickering on Capitol Hill. As is usual, we were pleased with some things in the bill and disappointed by others that were left out of the final version. Reserve access to TRICARE Select was a big step in the right direction, although the premiums were higher than we would have liked. The earlier than age 60 retirement amendment did not survive, but we at least got our foot in the door. For complete details and our goals for the coming session of Congress, see CAPT Puzon’s column on page 7.
As many of you may remember, when former CNO Vern Clark laid out his five pillars for his tour, he began with Manpower, Current Readiness, then Alignment, Quality of Service, and Future Readiness. He left future readiness for last. That included the shipbuilding program. Admiral Clark took a lot of heat from the Congress and from shipbuilding interests for doing that. As he began his fifth year, shipbuilding was high on the agenda; and, then, along came the cost of the war, passed on to the services as marks against their budgets. So where are we now? Recently, the DoD acquisitions office approved the Navy’s plan to build the first two DDX ships in two different competing shipyards. That is good news. The bad news is that they are projected to cost $3.3 billion apiece.* Unofficially, it is estimated that the cost could run up to $1 billion more. At the same time, CVN-21, the next carrier which has already been slipped to the right by one year, is estimated to cost between $14 and $16 billion, twice the price of a Nimitz.* (Today’s Arleigh Burke's cost $1.7 billion.) These ships will be a major technological departure from their predecessors – electric propulsion, electromagnetic catapults, etc.; but, as you can see, they are pricy.
CNO Mike Mullen has set 313 as the target number for the size of the fleet. In order to get the program on track, he has to find a way to increase the size of the Navy’s shipbuilding budget by around 20 percent for years to come. Aside from wanting our Navy to move forward, why do you care about the CNO’s problems? Because, the services are being forced to shrink manpower accounts to save force structure programs!** Manpower accounts mean not only head count but also compensation packages. If your top line isn’t going to increase and you need more money, a lot more money, for ships, it has to come from somewhere. You should also understand that today’s “wartime” defense budget as a percent of Gross Domestic Product is LESS than its historical peacetime average! The current administration is not going to press Congress to do the right thing and put the country on a wartime footing. It is politically unpalatable. This is one reason why DoD and DoN don’t want to consider changing Reserve retirement. This is why DoD wants to limit Reserve access to medical care.
This is not an evil plot. It is just the way it is inside the five-sided wind tunnel where there is never enough money to do all that should be done. It is also the reason that your Association and YOU must work with Congress to ensure that your needs are given every consideration.
This month, our feature article is an interview with RDML Jeff Lemmons, CNAFR. The admiral was most gracious to take the hard questions along with the soft balls, and I’m sure that you will find his message interesting. It begins on page 13.
Plans for the Spring Conference here in Washington are shaping up nicely. At President Q’s request, we will bring Navy leadership to YOU, including VADM Cotton. Reservation forms are on page 23. Sign up early and encourage a nonmember to attend. Your personal efforts can build membership. Besides, we’re going to have a heck of a good time!
As always, enjoy the read.