94% of Sailors Say ‘Damaging Operational Failures’ Related to Navy Culture & Leadership

U.S.Naval Institute article

Nice report that will likely get very little coverage, due to the lawmakers that sponsored it (Tom Cotton, Dan Crenshaw, and others), as well as the negative impact of "wokeness" on training readiness. Will surprise no one who has been in a leadership position in the military over the last decade.

The study interviewed current and retired sailors and officers regarding the Navy's operational debacles over the past several years like the Bonhomme Richard fire, destroyer collisions, and capture of small craft by the Iranians. Headline comes from this:

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“When asked whether incidents such as the two destroyer collisions in the Pacific, the surrender of a small craft to the IRGC in the [Persian] Gulf, the burning of the Bonhomme Richard and other incidents were part of a broader cultural or leadership problem in the Navy, 94 percent of interviewees responded ‘yes’,” reads the report. Fifty-five percent said there was a direct connection between leadership, culture and the incidents.

The goal “was to establish if these incidents were part of a series of isolated, unit-level breakdowns, or if they instead indicate larger institutional issues that are degrading the performance of the entire naval surface force,” reads the survey.

“There was a broad consensus across interviewees on numerous cultural and structural issues that impact the morale and readiness of the Navy’s surface force. These include: an insufficient focus on warfighting skills, the perception of a zero-defect mentality accompanied by a culture of micromanagement, and over-sensitivity and responsiveness to modern media culture. Structural issues identified include lack of resources and consistency in surface warfare training programs, and the Navy’s underwhelming commitment to surface ship maintenance—a problem that spans decades.”

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Some of the more damning excerpts from the actual report regarding the cause of INSUFFICIENT FOCUS ON WARFIGHTING:

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One recent destroyer captain lamented that, “where someone puts their time shows what their priorities are. And we've got so many messages about X, Y, Z appreciation month, or sexual assault prevention, or you name it. We don't even have close to that same level of emphasis on actual warfighting.”

Sailors increasingly see administrative and non-combat related training as the mission, rather than the mission itself. “Sometimes I think we care more about whether we have enough diversity officers than if we’ll survive a fight with the Chinese navy,” lamented one lieutenant currently on active duty. “It’s criminal. They think my only value is as a black woman. But you cut our ship open with a missile and we’ll all bleed the same color.”

A recently retired senior enlisted leader suggested that this dynamic was more a lack of proper prioritization. “I guarantee you every unit in the Navy is up to speed on their diversity training. I’m sorry that I can’t say the same of their ship handling training.”

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Regarding CORROSIVE OVER-RESPONSIVENESS TO MEDIA CULTURE

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To wit, 30 years ago the newsworthiness of a Master Chief telling sailors to “clap like you’re at a strip club” during a distinguished visitor tour would be questionable. But a reporter overheard those exact comments from the USS Harry Truman’s Command Master Chief during a press availability last year. Despite there being no apparent news value in an NCO using mildly “salty” language with sailors, multiple media outlets disagreed. The comments ran across several national news services and a 30-year veteran of the Navy, who would have been an invaluable asset in a conflict at sea, resigned. In what would have normally been discipline via stern conversation from a higher officer, three decades of honorable service were instead ignobly ended.

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The Navy acknowledged the report, but probably only insofar as they can use it to justify more money. Still encouraging that some in the Navy recognize the BS that is going on that is distracting from warfighting readiness.