Navy’s New Plan To Halt Re-enlistment

[jmichna]

Un-Frikin'-believable!

From Pacific Flyer:

Navy’s New Plan To Halt Re-enlistment
PacificFlyer | Apr 08, 2012 | Comments 12
By Sanford Hughes
Military Affairs

Bad news for squids and jarheads (our beloved sailors and Marines).

The Navy Department has figured a way to cut back on the expense of running a Navy and all those desert wastelands they call Marine bases.

Basically, stop all drinking, smoking and eating rich foods, test everyone all the time and eventually, there won't be anyone left to collect pay and pension benefits.

Of course they didn't say that exactly. What they did say is, the Navy will implement fleet-wide breathalyzer tests for sailors and Marines, crack down on smoking and drinking, and phase in many other major personnel policy changes, such as giving females three years off to birth babies instead of standing duty they signed up for.

The broad collection of new policies has been dubbed "21st Century Sailor and Marine," and reflected many "longstanding issues or goals" for the department by social engineers now seemingly in charge of the U.S. military.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Jim Amos unveiled the coming disaster but it isn't clear if the White House forced them into it or they went along willingly.

Juan Garcia (a civilian), assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, said that "21st Century" has five "pillars" - readiness, safety, physical fitness, inclusion and "continuum of service."

The Navy Department's basic goal is to get the most possible good out of every servicemember and keep them in the force for as long as possible before they come to their senses or just head for Canada. Officials said they hope anti-drinking, anti-smoking and physical fitness campaigns will make troops healthier, reduce accidents such as drunk driving and result in fewer missed work days over a sailor or Marine's career.

Contrast this with the British Navy which not only allows smoking but still issues a cupful of grog every day.

EVERYONE GETS SCREENED
The highest profile new policy will be the fleetwide use of breathalyzers, which until now have only been tried sporadically in various parts of the Navy. Within the coming year, Garcia said, virtually all ships and many Marine units will begin fielding breathalyzers and a novel approach for using them.

"What we're stressing is this is not a punitive tool, not a legal tool, but instead it's an inspection and prevention tool," Garcia, who's obviously never been in the Navy, said, "leading chiefs to prevent career-ending or service-ending incidents." Of course, just the opposite will be true.

For example, all sailors coming aboard a ship for a duty shift after liberty will be screened with the breathalyzer, and the whole crew will be subject to random inspections. In addition to being deeply unpopular with sailors, the Navy's past breathalyzer experiments also have drawn skepticism from its own leaders: former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Joe Campa once observed that a breathalyzer on the brow could cause as many problems as it solved.

A sailor or Marine who shows up for duty with a blood alcohol level above .08 will be sent to medical, his leaders and shipmates will be notified, and his case will rest in the hands of his commanding officer and noted in his record. That should do a lot for reenlistment figures.

NO SMOKING ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
Tobacco and the synthetic marijuana-like drug known as "spice" are also on the hit list. The Navy Department will stop discounting tobacco products at exchanges and begin new rounds of tests to catch spice-smokers.

Recent congressional action also means that, for the first time in decades, Navy warships may not go to sea with tobacco in their ships' stores. Navy officials want to duplicate what they say has been the success of the submarine force, which outlawed smoking at the beginning of 2011.

So much for having an after dinner cigar in the goat locker (chief's quarters).

WOMEN CAN GET THREE YEARS OFF
It also will offer women new options to take time away from service to have children, then return to duty to pick up their careers. Women will be able to move into the inactive ready reserve for as long as three years, receive a stipend for not working, keep commissary and other benefits and use one permanent change of station to relocate.

They'll incur a "two for one" obligation - meaning a woman who took the maximum three years off would owe the Navy or Marine Corps six additional years. Let's see how long that lasts.

BAD NEWS FOR RECRUITING OFFICES
Worse, for Chief Petty Officers and Gunnery Sergeants, the Navy and Marines will also step up a "year-round culture of fitness" to lean on servicemembers to keep fit. With all these sailors and Marines in better shape, drinking less and not smoking, the Navy Department wants to keep them in service for as long as possible, or, at least, until their enlistment is up.

Of course, it may be impossible to get anyone to re-up since the men are unable to smoke or drink. And as all the women will be off having babies, who's going to run the ships, planes and shore bases in about four years?

Hopefully, by that time, all the social experimenters in Washington, D.C. and in the Pentagon will have been replaced by realists who understand military enlisted men and what it takes to be a warrior.

But probably not. Please don't let China, North Korea or Iran hear about this.

[HTOWN stunna]

interesting read. Spice was outlawed locally here in my small hometown a couple of weeks ago.

[sdprof]

Once upon a time the Navy was probably the laxest service, beards, entertaining embroidery under the uniform cuffs.

This PC age will be the death of us. We ask more an more of the troops in the field, and screw around with their lives more and more at home station. That's an equation that does not balance.

SD Prof
USAF, 1973-1996

[Bamatrev]

A year after this gets implemented, the news reports will be "Re-enlistment rates are dropping, DOD not sure why".

[Milhouse86]

I might be in the minority here but I think fitness standards have been too lax for a while in the Navy. Now there is no way they will really be able to get rid of all drinking and smoking but that is the way of the Navy. They say extreme then settle around acceptable.

[nlghthawk]

Its not surprising at all! After Desert Storm there was a major draw down of the Navy and many controversial rules were enacted. This forced sailors to comply or get out. This had the net effect of creating a superior military and reducing costs. It is a very common post-war cost saving measure.

There will be encouragement for career sailors and marines to look at the Army to continue out their careers...another common tactic.

The down side of this is when we do end up back in a war there isn't going to be the same motivation for people to come back in.

It's a morale buster but most people have short memories and it won't be long before a new crop of NCO's are in charge and this will be just another bump in the road for a peacetime military.

[yodamedic]

Originally Posted by nlghthawk

Its not surprising at all! After Desert Storm there was a major draw down of the Navy and many controversial rules were enacted. This forced sailors to comply or get out. This had the net effect of creating a superior military and reducing costs. It is a very common post-war cost saving measure.

There will be encouragement for career sailors and marines to look at the Army to continue out their careers...another common tactic.

The down side of this is when we do end up back in a war there isn't going to be the same motivation for people to come back in.

It's a morale buster but most people have short memories and it won't be long before a new crop of NCO's are in charge and this will be just another bump in the road for a peacetime military.

soon they wont be able to join the army either the army has pretty much stopped accepting all prior service no mater what branch and is looking to cut about 80000 from their current forces ive been seeing a lot of good men getting kicked out for stupid **** while the **** bags are still staying in just cuz they can max a pt test and are rail skinny

[Ocean82]

Blanket policies are the Navy's favorite tools. Now they want to assume everyone is an alcoholic and druggie to prevent the 1% of people who come into work unfit for duty. The health standards the Navy has been pushing for years is disguised healthcare and manpower cost reduction. You're a fool if you believe they do it for the sake of the sailor. This is why I got out after 7 years. They treat you like a child.

[CrAz3D]

seems like a good way to cut expenses.