WEBVTT 1 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:44.039 And welcome board everybody. It says sal along with my 2 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:48.280 co host Mark, welcome everybody to another edition of mid Rats, 3 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:50.640 and I would like to put out the altar call 4 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:53.320 for those that are with us live, go ahead and 5 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:54.079 hop into. 6 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:54.520 The chat room. 7 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:57.719 We've already got one person, two person. Everybody's hopping in 8 00:00:57.719 --> 00:00:59.799 the chat room. That's a great place during the course 9 00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:02.240 of the show that if you have some questions you 10 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:05.120 would like to ask us, are some observations you put 11 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:06.840 it right in there. We'll be monitoring it during the 12 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:08.599 course of the show. It might even interact with you 13 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:11.359 if you have something really pithy and good that you 14 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:14.319 want to share. And also if you don't already, maybe 15 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:16.319 you got to leave halfway through the show, or this 16 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:17.599 is just one of the few times you've had a 17 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:19.959 chance to join us live. If you go over to 18 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:24.359 iTunes or speaker or any of your other aggregators of podcast, 19 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.840 go ahead and find mid Rats and subscribe. That way, 20 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:29.760 we will be there with you at a time to 21 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:33.599 your convenience. And this is no guest, is just Mark 22 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:35.879 and I. Today we're going to cover the waterfront here 23 00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:38.959 as everybody gets ready for Thanksgiving. And I'll probably repeat 24 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:40.719 it at the end of the show. But I know 25 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:43.959 everybody's going to have a week full of feasting and 26 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:45.000 family and friends. 27 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:45.480 I hope. 28 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:47.680 If not, well you've got us for an hour, so 29 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:51.719 you've got that going forward. So hey, happy pre Thanksgiving there, Mark, Well, 30 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:53.959 thank you, sal and hope you have a good time. 31 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:56.200 I will. 32 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:58.760 I won't have all the kiddies home because they you 33 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:00.840 know how that is adult, so have a life for 34 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:04.400 their own. We're also trying something new today, maybe a 35 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:09.120 couple of y'allur listening. I think I joined took us 36 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:11.439 half a decade to get here, but I went ahead 37 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:16.080 and hooked up the riverside to my account over at 38 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.080 x so in addition to live streaming on the Riverside, 39 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:22.960 those that had that link also got us live streaming 40 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:25.879 on x as well. So hopefully that'll bring in some 41 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:28.120 new people who might want to hop on over to 42 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:31.400 the riverside transaction and joining the chat room. So that's 43 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.560 always good to have. Kind Of to kick things off, 44 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:39.400 we kind of coordinated in the pre show some of 45 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:42.400 the thoughts that we had bounced through our mind, and 46 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.599 as the kickoff was going, Mark, I was thinking, you 47 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:47.319 know the topic that you brought up because at the 48 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:52.400 end of the day, national defense it is a people business. 49 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:58.120 You have all these great and exciting technologies and machines, 50 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:01.960 but behind all of it and the theory, how do 51 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:05.840 you execute it. It's the people and an all volunteer force. 52 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:12.280 You have a pretty complicated set of variables that being 53 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:15.680 able to maintain the excellence of that all volunteer force, 54 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:19.759 and that has to do with not just recruiting, but retention. 55 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:24.919 And there are a few rumbles in the retention front 56 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:28.520 that people should be asking hard questions about. 57 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:33.439 Yeah, it's a I think we always say people first. 58 00:03:33.479 --> 00:03:35.639 I mean that is the military one of the great 59 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:38.800 military mantras people first, take care of your people, I 60 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:40.360 think was one of the first things I heard when 61 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:43.680 I joined the Navy eight billion years ago. The problem 62 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:49.599 is that taking care of your people is also understanding 63 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:52.120 the problems they face and dealing as well as you 64 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:55.919 can with those. What we've seen is that has the 65 00:03:56.280 --> 00:04:01.479 size of the Navy is as shrunk, then the demands 66 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:06.199 placed on the assets we have has increased because we're 67 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:10.879 trying to meet the same commitments that we've historically met 68 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:14.439 with a larger force. And so that means that the 69 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:19.000 people of the Davy and the Marine Corps and probably 70 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:24.759 all the other services are getting used They're getting used up. 71 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:29.120 We're burning them out at a younger age. They We 72 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:33.959 have trouble retaining mid career officers in aviation. We have 73 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:39.560 trouble retaining skilled personnel who can find work that doesn't 74 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.600 involve them leaving home for eight to ten months on 75 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:48.720 an inconsistent but regular basis. It is not taking care 76 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:51.079 of your people, but that it is the part of 77 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.040 the snowball effect of allowing your fleet to shrink to 78 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:57.759 the size where it can't do all the missions that 79 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:00.319 are demanded of it. But we sit won't say we 80 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:03.959 can't do that, and so we're trying to do everything 81 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:07.600 with people that are already on the ragged edge of 82 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:10.920 burning out. And it's a problem if you have a 83 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:17.519 shortage of aviation squadron department heads where some in some 84 00:05:17.639 --> 00:05:21.399 cases people are doing they're double hatted, as in the 85 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:27.759 department at World, if you can't keep people motivated to 86 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:31.040 when especially when they're facing and it's not about money. 87 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:33.959 Somewhere along the way I've read I was going to 88 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.199 my various degrees that you read about money is not 89 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:39.720 a great motivator. 90 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:40.839 I mean it doesn't. 91 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:45.279 Getting paid well helps, but it doesn't buy happiness. If 92 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:49.920 the job is a killers. We keep offering bonuses. People 93 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:52.360 are taking the bonuses, but they're not They're not made 94 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:54.480 me happier. They're not getting more time off because they 95 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:56.720 took the bonuses. They're just having to work harder to 96 00:05:56.759 --> 00:05:58.639 pick up the slack from all the people that have 97 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:01.120 decided to get out and go to work for other 98 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:03.519 companies or just start their own business or whatever they're 99 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:03.879 going to. 100 00:06:05.959 --> 00:06:08.160 Yeah, and for those that haven't been in the military, 101 00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:13.319 but the thing to understand about retention is it is 102 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:15.759 a zero sum game out there. You have a fixed 103 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:20.439 number of ships, fixed number of squadrons, fixed numbers submarines, 104 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:24.160 shore commands that need to be manned. With your senior leadership, 105 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:27.600 you're going to have a COO and XO and your 106 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:31.879 various department heads. And you want to have in a meritocracy, 107 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:34.759 which is the military with a blemish here or there. 108 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:38.079 It is a bit of meritocracy. We can't mess around 109 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:41.680 with evening but the best. Ultimately, you want to have 110 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.439 a pool of people to choose from. So if you 111 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:47.279 have you have ten important jobs you have to fill, 112 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:50.519 and you have twenty people to choose from. When you 113 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:53.639 get those twenty people in front of you, you can say, 114 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:57.439 you know, here's these four absolutely we want they're up there. 115 00:06:57.519 --> 00:06:57.879 Boom. 116 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:01.120 There's four in here that I wouldn't trust to mow 117 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.720 my yard. So we're not going to consider them. So 118 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:07.680 we've taken eight out of our twenty. We've got another sixteen. 119 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:11.000 We have another sixteen people to fill, another six billets, 120 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:13.920 and you just start filing. Yeah, those other two people, 121 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:14.519 they're pretty good. 122 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:15.720 Those other two people not too good. 123 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.360 Then you get into a crunch. Do you have Okay, 124 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:22.199 I've got three billets left I have to fill. Unfortunately, 125 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:24.560 I've got six people to choose from in the crunch, 126 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:27.360 and they're all about equal. Not everybody gets invited to 127 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.279 the party. And the end of that very brutal or 128 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:34.920 wellly in process. As much as humanly possible, you have 129 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.720 selected the best. You have mitigated performance risk due to 130 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:45.199 low quality, our poor personality mixes, and things go well, 131 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:49.000 which is important when you have multi billion dollar equipment, 132 00:07:49.079 --> 00:07:53.120 nuclear reactors. Things that go boom are very important. Now, 133 00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:56.560 if you have those ten billets to fill and you 134 00:07:56.639 --> 00:08:00.959 only have twelve people to choose from. Then you are 135 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:04.120 going to bring in some people that probably shouldn't be 136 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:08.560 given that opportunity to excel, and that degrades the performance 137 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:11.000 of your military. And you have all sorts of problems 138 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:14.040 developed from that. So you have to create an environment 139 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:17.240 that you retain enough people to pick from. And you 140 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:21.240 know the department head problems that people have. When people 141 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:25.120 get their commission, whether they go to the academy, rotcci, 142 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:28.800 they're usually in their early twenties unless they're prior enlisted. 143 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:32.000 So let's just pick a round date twenty two, and 144 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:35.200 let's say that the people who have the most obligation 145 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:40.559 I believe is still pilots. You're thirteen tens. So let's 146 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:44.159 say you get through a flight school at age twenty four. 147 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:47.519 Let's say just use round numbers here. I don't know 148 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:49.600 what it is right now, whether it's six, seven, eight, 149 00:08:49.720 --> 00:08:51.799 let's just say eight because that's easy math to do. 150 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:56.759 Twenty four plus eight is thirty two, so at thirty 151 00:08:56.759 --> 00:08:59.240 two you can punch out. That also happens to be 152 00:08:59.799 --> 00:09:04.519 to years after you have gotten your commission, which means 153 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:06.320 it's about time to go up for a department at 154 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:08.720 the Green board. So you have all these people that 155 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:10.639 are given the ability to get out because they've got 156 00:09:10.679 --> 00:09:13.720 through with your obligations and surface warfare. You can leave 157 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:16.679 a little bit earlier. But let's back up, so you 158 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:20.440 have thirty two. Let's back up for the surface guys 159 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:22.159 who can get out earlier they want to. When you 160 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:25.960 know you get your go to your ship at age 161 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.639 twenty two, do a year fiddle fiddling around that gets 162 00:09:30.679 --> 00:09:33.240 you to twenty three. You do a three year tour 163 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:35.879 that gets you to twenty six, twenty seven and whatever. 164 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:39.600 Between the ages of twenty seven and thirty two is 165 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:43.600 one of the most important leverage parts for young men 166 00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:45.639 and women for a variety of things. That's that's when 167 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:50.480 you do mostly your family formation. If you are recently married, 168 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:52.840 you're starting to have kids. If you're not married, especially 169 00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:56.320 around age age thirty, you're getting itchy whether you're a 170 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:59.279 male or female, and if you are female, when you 171 00:09:59.320 --> 00:10:03.000 reach age thirty, biology starts being really mean to you 172 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:04.919 if you want to have a family, so you've got 173 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:07.240 to be really motivated, and when you do the plus 174 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:09.279 and minuses of whether you want to stay in or not, 175 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:12.240 that's a real critical juncture to get there, and I 176 00:10:12.279 --> 00:10:15.519 think one of the things we hurt ourselves is, and 177 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:18.799 this is a senior leadership problem, that we haven't had 178 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.080 an admiral no or really a second NEV and a 179 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:27.159 sect death no. That when you tell everybody that an 180 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:29.799 eight month to eleven month deployment is going to be 181 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:33.759 the new normal, that doesn't just have an effect on 182 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:38.399 ship's maintenance. That has effect on retention is six months forever. 183 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:40.559 A lot of the listeners here who have done deployments, 184 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:42.600 you know six months is tough because you do twelve 185 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:46.120 months work up ahead of time. I remember the calendar 186 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:49.600 I kept when I was on the enterprise, backing up 187 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:52.080 three hundred and sixty days from when we got back 188 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:52.759 from deployment. 189 00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:55.440 I was gone two hundred and seventy of them. 190 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:59.600 It's more than that six month deployment, and that makes 191 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:03.320 people who have free will a lot more desire to 192 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:07.320 get out. You know, the circumstances you mentioned where let's 193 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:10.679 say you want to have I don't know, eight department 194 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:13.480 heads at any one time, Well, if you only have 195 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:19.720 five or eight, then you you've had double the duty, 196 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:23.840 lower performance, more room for error. I mean, it's great 197 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.159 for the people who want to hang around the screen 198 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:27.679 for command because you don't have as much competition. And 199 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:32.639 I think the argument could be made that we probably 200 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:36.320 are losing some of our best people too, because I 201 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:39.399 know one of the best officers I served with when 202 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:42.200 they came up to their obligation, they loved the Navy, 203 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:46.720 they loved what they did. But he was offered a 204 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:50.039 chance to go to Harvard to get his NBA, and 205 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:52.759 he actually thought real hard about it. But this is 206 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:54.879 the nineteen nineties and there wasn't much love going on, 207 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:58.240 and so he took off and did great things in 208 00:11:58.279 --> 00:12:01.879 other places. That retention is multifaceted. I think you're right. 209 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:05.720 It's not just money. If it was money would be 210 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:06.399 easy to solve. 211 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.159 Yeah, there's a quote from a piece that appeared in 212 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:13.600 the Peninsula Press, which I gather is out on the 213 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:18.480 West coast someplace back in January twenty four and they, 214 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:20.840 you know, they were talking about I'll put a link 215 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:24.279 up to it, but the quote is from one of 216 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:26.879 the quotes from that is they ask for more every 217 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:29.759 year with less and less people. And I don't know 218 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:30.360 if that's correct. 219 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:30.879 Use less. 220 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:34.360 I would say fewer people myself. But that's the problem. 221 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.960 You know, you as people get out the burden on 222 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:39.879 the people who get left, and and if they're quality people, 223 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:41.759 they're the ones who are already getting the line's share 224 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:44.600 of collateral duties and stuff. Because you know, when you 225 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.320 look at when you're talking about your lineup of people 226 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.200 that decide who's going to get selected for the next job, 227 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.879 the same thing happens in your squadron around your ship. 228 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:54.879 You look at the people who can get the job done, 229 00:12:55.320 --> 00:12:57.320 and the people who get the job done get all 230 00:12:57.320 --> 00:13:00.320 the jobs, because you don't want to give an ihortant 231 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:03.200 job to somebody who's not as competent and won't do 232 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:05.120 as good a job as somebody who is competent. And 233 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:08.240 we'll do a good job. And that's the way it works. 234 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:12.919 But if you're if people are leaving, putting more burden 235 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.480 on your on your superior performers, now you're grinding those 236 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.960 folks down a lot faster than than they need to 237 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:23.080 be to be ground down. And as you say, it's 238 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:27.639 not the the sixth or seven or eight month deployment, 239 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:31.639 it is the work up to get there. So even 240 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:34.720 on a ship, you're going through refresher training, you're going 241 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:36.480 through all kinds of stuff to get ready to go. 242 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:39.759 And you know, all of that involves all hands, and 243 00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:44.080 it involves everybody spending more time at sea. And and 244 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:45.559 you know, when I was on a destroyer out of 245 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:47.720 San Diego, we were the we'd come back from a 246 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:50.080 deployment and then we were the duty destroyer for a while. 247 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.159 That meant that every time a carrier needed somebody to 248 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:55.840 go out for a four day carrier wall or something, 249 00:13:56.440 --> 00:13:58.519 you know, we would we would be out there following 250 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:04.360 along as a as a you know, the destroyer falls 251 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:07.759 carriers along. The playing guard is not fun. And it's 252 00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:10.600 especially if you're if you're in port for you know, 253 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.039 we're gonna go in port for three days or four 254 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.440 days and you're gonna one in four one and three 255 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.879 duty section, which means that you could have the duty 256 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.879 when you leave the night before you go, and have 257 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:22.639 the duty when you get back, and that means you 258 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:24.879 have like two days with your family. It is it 259 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:30.399 is a It is a not a career enhancing position 260 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:32.799 to be in where you feel like that it's you're 261 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:35.120 you're giving all and nobody else is really taken care 262 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:37.440 of or even contemplating what it means to be in 263 00:14:37.480 --> 00:14:38.000 that position. 264 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:40.200 Yeah, and it. 265 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:42.519 Does beg the question, Okay, everybody wants to complain about it, 266 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:43.720 but what you can do about it? 267 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:46.799 There's things you. 268 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:50.759 Can do on on the personal level to make the 269 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.200 suck not be as bad as it is. But really, 270 00:14:54.080 --> 00:15:02.279 this is a cno sect nov sect problem because if 271 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.840 we can't find a way to build a large enough 272 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:10.080 fleet to meet the demand signal that everybody wants for deployed. 273 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:12.360 Then we need to. 274 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:17.799 Start saying no, that we are not going to deploy. Yes, 275 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:23.720 we are going to gap things because you can extend 276 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:26.519 them and keep them now. But this impact that you're 277 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:28.399 going to have down the road, not just in maintenance, 278 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:31.159 but pretension is pretty bad. And when people push back 279 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:33.279 but I need them, it's like, Okay, where were you 280 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:36.600 five palms ago when we told you this situation is 281 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:38.919 going to take place because we don't have a large 282 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:41.320 enough navy, so we're going to have to make decisions. 283 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:46.519 You know, what type of prophylactic deployment are we going 284 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:48.559 to do to make this present mission? Or do we 285 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:53.080 bring people home and start to rebuild our maintenance, rebuild 286 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.679 our quality of life. And these long employments are also 287 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:58.480 quality of work because you start running out of parts, 288 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:02.480 that you start breaking things because people machines get tired 289 00:16:02.519 --> 00:16:06.159 on long deployments. You have additional problems if people come 290 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:12.360 home because their family life is not not everybody married 291 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:16.600 the person who's best suited to be a Navy wife. 292 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:19.720 So we have one of two choices. 293 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:23.559 We can either get a larger piece of the pie, 294 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:26.080 which we've been asking for for a long time. We 295 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:28.679 should assume it's not going to happen. So that means 296 00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:31.480 that we need to have a different calculus up in Washington, 297 00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:35.440 d C. About who we're going to deploy and for 298 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:36.000 how long. 299 00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:41.720 Yeah, and I think that's I mean, that's the key 300 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:44.679 to this is it. Well, know, if you're going to 301 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:46.799 take care of your people, want you want them to 302 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:50.159 be as sharp as they can be when they're deployed 303 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:53.559 and ready to go should something happen, and then we're 304 00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:55.799 gonna have to you know, that means that we should 305 00:16:55.799 --> 00:17:00.399 not be sending the carrier battle groups to do jobs 306 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:05.400 that could be done by smaller, smaller units. But we 307 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:09.599 don't have enough smaller units. We need to get We 308 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:12.359 need to find the other folks in the Department of 309 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:14.640 Defense to you know, come pick up some of the slack. 310 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:18.400 We certainly send enough Navy people to assist the army 311 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:22.519 in its land wars and in various places. Well, I 312 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:24.839 think I read the other day someplace and you maybe 313 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:27.599 arn more about this than I do, but ninety percent 314 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:35.000 of one of the cgtfs was a we're Navy people 315 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:38.519 instead of instead of the you know, they're not doing 316 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:42.759 Navy things, they're doing Army things. So that you know, 317 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:44.839 we we need to call on the Army and say 318 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:50.000 you need to if you're going to be coastal artillery 319 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:51.799 like it used to be, then it's time to get 320 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:55.200 going with this. And you know we need to figure 321 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:57.799 out how to work that. And we also need to 322 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:02.720 make sure we don't get involved in these endless wars 323 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:06.240 where we try and and we know we talked about 324 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:08.440 this after Somali. We were not we were not going 325 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.160 to go in the nation building business, and then we 326 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:13.480 went into the nation building business. Everything we've been in 327 00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:16.440 since then. Really need to if we're going to go 328 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.799 do something, we need to make it quick. And if 329 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:21.880 you're looking at doing something about the hoofies. I put 330 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:25.839 up a post on X the other day about have 331 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:29.839 anybody looked at a terrain of western Yemmen. I mean 332 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:32.640 there are thirteen thousand foot peaks in there. It is 333 00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:37.200 a rugged place. I'm sure after Afghanistan, we really don't 334 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:41.039 I want to go operating in places where the locals 335 00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:42.960 have all the knowledge in the high ground. 336 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:49.000 I responded earlier today to Rebecca Hendrix, who I made 337 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:53.680 a little comment on X about the issues that were 338 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:58.599 we continue to see about. She was specifically referring if 339 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:02.039 memorassures me right, which means she was specifically referring to 340 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.119 this last minute approval of use of weapons in Ukraine 341 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:09.279 and managed escalation And a lot of the problem is 342 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:12.759 and I'm going to stand by this because people are 343 00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:19.319 A policy is the desire to and you mentioned after 344 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:22.039 Somalia and you can pull it back even to Vietnam. 345 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:26.680 Is this idea of the best and the brightest have 346 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:31.519 a great idea on how to use this little lever 347 00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:36.400 of power, whether it's managed escalation, whether it's nation building, 348 00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:40.839 whether it's Samantha powers in her group, responsibility to protect 349 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:48.359 it made a what Libya's is today today we continue 350 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:53.559 from the Pentagon to foggy Bottom. We keep using the 351 00:19:53.640 --> 00:19:58.079 same set of criteria for the people that we are 352 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:03.559 going to write our plans, write our strategy, lead our 353 00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:08.480 security and national security infrastructure to come from the same 354 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:12.279 schools that have the same CV have come from the 355 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:16.400 same think tanks, like I saw twice last week, one 356 00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:19.519 of which was an interview at Brookings with Admiral Paparo 357 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:22.279 that maybe we'll come back to where one of the 358 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:27.079 guys from Brookings was singing all the prages praises of Petraeus, 359 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:29.960 which the time fifteen twenty years ago I said some 360 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:33.680 nice things about him as well, But in hindsight, I 361 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:35.799 don't care if you got his PhD from Princeton. He 362 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:39.359 does a hot mess and did not create a net 363 00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:42.039 positive for our nation where it stands now in twenty 364 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:44.079 twenty four. But they keep looking to him as if 365 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:49.759 he is some sage, and we need to stop and 366 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:54.559 think about why we keep repeating these same errors, these 367 00:20:54.599 --> 00:21:00.319 forever were, or these unresolved conflicts. Another example is is 368 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:04.920 the operation going on in Gaza. All those people who 369 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:08.599 were asking for a ceasefire in Gaza. Would that have 370 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:13.119 made the experience in Gaza any better, any more likely 371 00:21:13.160 --> 00:21:16.720 to be peaceful and more likely to be resolved, or 372 00:21:16.839 --> 00:21:21.200 to just create another festering wound. You look at what 373 00:21:21.480 --> 00:21:26.279 the attacks on Israel in the north by Hesbolah. That 374 00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:29.759 all derives from the fact that when the Israelis got 375 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:33.039 punched in the face hard and withdrew from southern Lebanon, 376 00:21:34.119 --> 00:21:37.480 UNIFIL and UN was supposed to come in and protect it. Well, 377 00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:41.880 we've all seen the fact that between UN posts A 378 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:45.319 and B you've got rockets from hesbela shooting off. That 379 00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:51.240 just does not work the template that we think produces 380 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:55.920 the best mind and theories for our national security. It's 381 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:59.799 doing just the opposite. And we have it our incentives 382 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:04.160 and this incentives have been wrong for the last thirty years. 383 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:07.000 How you reset that, I don't know, but probably a 384 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:11.319 start is to be very direct with these people, and 385 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:16.480 maybe talking to different people would be a plus. That 386 00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:18.599 would be a start. Is except the fact that we 387 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:21.759 are not we are not training our best in our 388 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.519 brightest might be going to the certain institutions and might 389 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:28.920 be trained by some great places, but the end product 390 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:33.680 is not fit for purpose. And I think the scoreboard 391 00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:36.400 kind of outlines that fact. Whether you agree or not, 392 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:38.640 and that's fine, but look at the scoreboard and tell 393 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:39.319 me where I'm wrong. 394 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.240 Yeah, It reminds me of when I was taking the 395 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:47.599 training to be a mediate. So trouble is when you 396 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:50.519 when you start from the position of being a litigation attorney, 397 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:54.200 they're you know they're especially when I was in house 398 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:56.319 litigation attorney. But there are a lot of cases that 399 00:22:56.359 --> 00:22:59.119 ought to be you have to try, you have to 400 00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:03.400 take them to court. Well that the mediation group thought, well, no, 401 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:06.640