Casey Coane posted on February 01, 2012 15:02
February / March 2012 - Navy
Who is in command? As editor
of this magazine, I try not to
get on my high horse too
often, but every now and
then something just needs to be addressed.
Over my six plus years in this job, I have
been witness to a trend that greatly concerns
me and that is the role of our JAG
officers. These are most often incredibly
bright and deservedly proud staff officers,
but they aren’t in command, or are they?
There are really two issues here and space
does not permit a full discussion of both.
One is the role of the JAG as the CO’s
trusted advisor, along with his/her Public
Affairs Officer and certainly his or her
Executive Officer. The second is the regulations
themselves that are being interpreted
by that trusted advisor, and I’ll save that for
the blog on the Web site. When I served as
the Deputy Commander of JTF Southwest
Asia some time ago, the advice of our “Fighting JAG” as
to rules of engagement was of paramount importance,
but that is what it was––advice. It seems, however, that
today more and more the JAG is making the command
decision. The interpretation of regulations is just that,
an interpretation; the ultimate decision must reside
with the Commanding Officer. Are COs today so afraid
of making a mistake that they allow the “trusted advisor”
to command by default? That is the trend
that I am seeing. It is not the fault of the
JAG officer. It is the fault of the way we
train our Commanding Officers. Agree or
disagree, let me know what you think.
We are really excited about this issue.
On the cover is VADM Dirk Debbink, the
Chief of Navy Reserve for his fourth interview.
The Admiral has graciously made
himself available in every year of his tenure
for a discussion of the Navy’s Reserve
Component; and with the Navy Reserve
Birthday celebrated in March, this was the
right issue to hear from him again. Our
President, Rear Admiral Tim Moon, conducted
the interview just before Christmas in
Admiral Debbink’s Pentagon office. Find
them on page 15.
Also, in our first 40-page issue in many,
many years is our update on the two
versions of the Navy’s littoral combat ship.
We asked Lockheed Martin to bring us up to date
from the manufacturer’s perspective and they were
most helpful in addressing our questions. As we have
reported before, the entire LCS program is under
careful scrutiny from the House and Senate Armed
Services Committees; but the recently signed National
Defense Authorization Act included more ships. Our
own Aaron Bresnahan has written a companion piece
on the Austal America design. He provides a good
discussion of the thought processes behind the creation
of the LCS platforms. Find them both beginning on
page 20. Navy Surface Forces Command in San Diego
has given us an LCS article from the point of view of
the crews who are being trained to man them. The size
of the LCS crews presents some interesting challenges
and the necessity for a lot of cross training. How the
Navy chooses to accomplish this will be key to the
success of the ship.
I am particularly pleased that ITCS Jon Altman has
given us some good advice for those aspiring Petty
Officers. AUSN is an association for all Navy people
and we seek to balance every issue of this magazine
with that in mind. The advice in Jon’s column is,
frankly, applicable to everyone wearing the uniform,
officer, enlisted, Active Component or Reserve
Component.
As usual, Captain Serbin’s advice is timely and useful.
When I went to the gym on the 3rd of January, I was
pleased that the scale did not go up over the holidays;
but it sure as heck didn’t get any smaller either.
As always, enjoy the read.