Casey Coane posted on January 01, 2011 00:17
January 2011 Navy
By Casey Coane
Happy New Year! Now, 2011 is off to a fast start. Early this month, our new Board of Directors will have their first face-to-face meeting here at Headquarters. Later this month, the 112th Congress will be seated. That will be historic just because of the volume of new members. As Captain Puzon wrote last month, with the loss of Ike Skelton (D-Mo), as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Gene Taylor (D-Mi), as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Sea Power, there is a significant change in leadership of two very important committees on which we keep a watchful eye. Right after the new Congress convenes, AUSN will host our annual Capitol Hill Reception. If you are in the area on the 19th of January, please join us in the Rayburn Foyer at 1700.
This month, our theme is SPECOPS and we bring you several articles on our SEAL forces and Basic Underwater Demolition School (BUDS) in particular. Find them on page 16. We also bring you our annual Tax Tips from LCDR Marc Soss. Marc is a regular contributor of legal information important to all our members, Active and Reserve. Thank you, Marc.
Next month, our theme is surface warfare and we intended to bring you a story about the LCS design that was the winner of the down-select competition. In early November, however, right after the elections, the Navy threw a curve ball – The Navy’s decision is to ask Congress to authorize building ten more of each design, the Lockheed Martin version and the Austal USA version. As we are writing this, the Navy is hopeful that it can get Congress to approve this new acquisition strategy during the lame duck session. Just prior to the Thanksgiving break, the CNO and Secretary Mabus were very engaged with various Congressional offices seeking support for the new strategy. Congress was upset that the Navy was not providing the details of the cost of the new plan. By the time you read this, we will know the outcome.
With the report by two different commissions on debt reduction, it should be clear to everyone that, as we have been saying, the Department of Defense is going to be targeted for big cuts. There is no other way. Therefore, we have our work cut out for us in ensuring that our Navy remains strong and that our Navy Veterans’ benefits are protected. CAPT Puzon has sent the Association leadership a detailed document with our legislative goals for the year. We can use your support both financially (go to the Web and click on “donate”) and by using our CAPWIZ on-line system to send messages to your Congressmen/ women. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, ADM Mullen, recently stated that our debt is our greatest security threat. What do you make of that? When the Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, said it, I knew what he meant. When the Chairman says it, I’m not so sure. To paraphrase a current Dos Equis advertisement – “Stay Involved, My Friends.”
As you probably are aware, manpower is the biggest life cycle cost in defense systems with which the CNO has to deal. Our logistics ships, our command ships, and of course, our prepositioned ships for the Marines are largely civilian crewed. Now, the CNO is considering a civilian crew for one of our amphibious ships as a test. All of this brought to mind a pamphlet by Dr. Daniel S. Appleton, CAPT, USN (Ret). It is titled Let Us Lead Toward Ability to Fight. In it, Dr. Appleton calls into question whether are our ships are really organized in the best manner actually to fight. Something to think about as we introduce more and more civilians into the equation.
As always, enjoy the read.