Who is Accountable for Ship Collisions?

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The Navy just released the report of its investigation into the separate collisions of two Navy destroyers with merchant ships (http://bit.ly/2hmzAra). The U.S Naval Institute provides a good summary (http://bit.ly/2i7MpGT). From my viewpoint as a former destroyer and cruiser ship captain, the report accurately lays the blame primarily on each captain’s failure to ensure his bridge and radar watch teams were adequately trained in basic seamanship and coordination. The teams did not know the basics of driving a ship over the ocean. The captains were fired as a result. Accountability runs deep in the Navy.

I am sure the crews were well trained to fire missiles, shoot guns, or launch torpedoes; there are training teams that board ships to help certify those qualifications. There are no teams that can adequately teach bridge and radar watch standers to coordinate with each others and maintain situational awareness at night in heavy shipping lanes. That’s the captain’s job. That requires the captain to train and certify watch standers…and be on the bridge when other ships are in close vicinity. For instance, I had a standing order that I was to be called by the officer of the deck whenever the projected closest point of approach of another ship was withing 5 miles of my ship. The officer would describe the situation and what he intended to do about it. If he made a mistake in his recommended course of action, he lost my certification for his watch qualification until I trained him better. It was my job to train him…my fault he did not know the right course of action.

The lessons learned over the years is that when the captain assumes personal accountability for anything that happens on a ship, fewer mistakes are made…same for business leaders ashore. 

 

Where Have The Civil-Military Connections Gone?

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It was across the road from the only drive-in hamburger stand in town. It was where we as kids looked through the fence at the big Army trucks parked behind the tall roof building. We held high school dances there.

It was the National Guard Armory, one of many in towns across America built after Pearl Harbor, and it was the home of an Army transportation company. It was the place which visibly connected the military to the community.

It’s gone now. So is the connection. Like other armories in towns across America, cost efficiency has dictated consolidation into big bases.

If the loss of armories is a visible sign of changing times, so is the Army-Navy game. When the Cadets and Midshipmen march into the stadium before the game, we watch the faces of people who are becoming personally involved in protecting America.

Here in Atlanta, many of us personally know an active duty serviceman or servicewoman…or the family of one.

Not so across America. Participation or connection to the military is being lost in some significant categories. The Pew Research Center has found that while a majority of older Americans have family connections, only a third of the 18-29 year-olds do.

Most of our military today comes from rural areas and the South. Nearly half of the active duty members live in just five states: California, Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia.

Most of our military today comes from middle income families; high income and low income families are increasingly not represented.

Thus the military community is becoming more insular. The connection between most Americans and our armed forces is fading away. We may publicly say thanks for their service, but we have no real family or personal connection.

In losing the personal connection built following Pearl Harbor, many Americans no longer are really concerned with how our military is used. We should be.

When the nation goes to war, so should the American people. Over the past few decades of America at war, the attitude of “we shop while they fight” is the norm. No tee time has been affected.

Pearl Harbor and the Army-Navy Game should remind us to vote carefully on how our military is used.

Andrew Bacevich in the September/October issue of the Foreign Affairs magazine makes some interesting suggestions. To keep the connection, he proposes that anytime America goes to war, like Iraq or Afghanistan, we put in place a special tax to pay for it.

He suggests a smaller standing all-volunteer Army, but a larger reserve consisting of individuals DRAFTED from across America’s demographics and geography. Draftees would represent various race, gender, ethnicity, region, class, and family incomes of American society. No exemptions.

Make changes like this and Americans will come up close and personal with the use of our military. Voters will take into account how and why America’s military is being used. Insuring America’s future will result

Pearl Harbor, where casualties were greater than for Americans in all of WW I, should cause to think about our military in a way that is above just saying thanks to its survivors.

The Army-Navy game, when the cameras show the faces of the midshipmen and cadets, should makes us think about how each of us should be personally involved in the defense of our freedoms.

Freedom will require American’s military and civilians to stay connected.

Know the Enemy

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At the National War College reading Sun Tsu is required reading. My most memorable take away was the following statement:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

ISIS is an enemy; knowing them is job one before battle. Here is a link to the ISIS publication Dabiq that can help us : http://www.clarionproject.org/news/islamic-state-isis-isil-propaganda-magazine-dabiq.

The Four Way Test for Christmas

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I was watching last week the movie “Love Actually.” It’s become an annual tradition in my family, along with Chevy Chase’s “Christmas Vacation.” Chevy reminds me not to plug in too many lights. “Love Actually” reminds me that the Christmas season is in part about honest relationships. Non-Christians have separate times of the year to do the same; but since this is the Christmas season, I’m using this time of year to make a point.

The point is that Christmas should be a time to focus on business relationships as well as personal and spiritual relationships. One of the themes running through the various plots in “Love Actually” is that Christmas is the time to tell the truth. In the movie, that moral theme emboldens characters to strengthen relationships through being honest.

Christmas should also be a time to strengthen business as well as personal relationships. That can be done by thinking about a company’s core values. Richard Anderson, the Chairman of Delta Airlines, says the graveyard of corporate failures is filled by companies that had no sense of values.

Values are a set of moral guidelines. These guidelines can be rooted in various foundations, with religions the primary sources throughout history. That history is changing as secularism becomes more prominent, so it’s more important than ever to have a time set aside to think about morals.

David Brooks muses in a column in the New York Times on the impact of secularism on morals and relationships. He notes: “…an age of mass secularization is an age in which millions of people have put unprecedented moral burdens upon themselves…”

Any religious season, or any secular reminder, should make us think about our own business “moral burdens.” Where do we start to develop moral guidelines? We would do well to adopt for starters the basic historic religious and secular principle: “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.”

There are other good guidelines, but the one I think best for business relationships is the Rotary Four Way Test in what we think, say, and do:

1. Is it the truth?
2. Is it fair to all concerned?
3. Will it build good will and better friendships?
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Amongst all the things for which we are reminded at Christmas, thinking about how we implement our business values is one that will make the year ahead more meaningful and successful.

Damn the Torpedoes!

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Embroidered on the back of the Navy helmets at the Army-Navy game this year was the famous Navy battle cry: “Damn the Torpedoes! Full speed ahead.” That’s the battle order by Admiral Farragut for his ships to charge forward at full speed as they fought their way into Mobile Bay during the Civil War. That determination won the battle.

There are other famous battle cries that reveal the American spirit of determination: “I have not yet begun to fight!” (John Paul Jones – Revolutionary War), “Don’t give up the ship!” (James Lawrence – War of 1812), “Nuts!” (Anthony McAuliff – WW II Battle of the Bulge).

Determination to succeed in battle or business results in a strong work ethic, a clear sense of mission and goals, and a big dose of enthusiasm. Companies with determined workers can have a big competitive advantage over those that don’t.

It was a good thing Navy had “Damn the Torpedoes” on their helmets to keep them determined. They needed all the determination they could muster to beat a very good Army team.
Good leaders instill determination in crews and employees long before it becomes obviously necessary to succeed. Damn the Torpedoes! Applying Naval Leadership Principles to Business can help managers become leaders in instilling determination in themselves and their employees.

New York, Paris, and Pearl Harbor

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December 7th is Pearl Harbor Day in America. America was surprised by a Japanese attack that left most of the Pacific Fleet on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. 2,500 Americans were killed. “Remember Pearl Harbor!” became a WW II battle cry.

Last month France, and indeed the world, was surprised by Islamic radical jihadists in several Paris locations. 130 people were killed and 368 wounded. The United States has a term “9/11” to remember the Islamic radical jihadists’ attacks in New York which killed 2,996 people. In the future France may refer to the recent attacks as “11/13.” I hope so.

Countries recall many key historical events by designating a special day to remember. America has July 4th. Few Americans know it was in 1776, but that’s fine as long as we remember why the colonies declared their independence from the British Empire. Pearl Harbor Day is another recognized event with a date in history. “9/11” has become a key date too.

“11/13” also needs to be a world event date. We all need something to remind us to be careful not to be surprised. As time moves on, we too often revert back to the status quo that existed before the deadly event. Then we are surprised again.

With “9/11” and “”11/13” we have enough dates to remind us to work to avoid another terrorist created date. We need to pay careful attention to not letting our guard down over the years. Pearl Harbor Day has reminded us to be militarily strong to deter surprise attacks. “9/11” and “11/13’ should remind us to not only deter future terrorist attacks, but to also change the environments that foster radical Islamic terrorists.

Leaders To the Front

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Yesterday France deployed the nuclear powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to assist France’s forces already bombing the Islamic Caliphate (State). This deployment caught the world’s attention as it shows France is deadly serious when President Hollande says France is “at war.”

While the United States already has significant air and naval forces in the Syrian area, the carrier movement is a signal that France is not accepting the status quo and intends to hit back with everything it has. Since the terrorist attacks six days ago, France has moved aggressively. In addition to its military efforts, France is also showing it can take the lead and is moving to the front in providing international leadership.

So where is everyone else? The United States is not taking any major steps to pull together an international response. While we hear condolences from almost every country on earth (including, amazingly, the Chinese), there is little action on anyone else’s part to match the French response.

With this lackluster international support, it’s time for France to call NATO to action. After all, France is at war after being attacked, and it’s deploying a major asset in the carrier Charles de Gaulle.  NATO countries have agreed that an attack on one is an attack on all. If NATO cannot respond to this, then NATO has little reason to exist. It would obviously not respond effectively to an aggressive Russian move.

One of the reasons France needs to call on NATO is that France, or any European country, has not over the past few decades invested enough in national defense. The reality is that without the supply and transportation infrastructure of the United States military, the military forces of all the EU countries would be challenged to get significant numbers of troops to Syria and maintain them there.

The United States can get them there and help maintain them there. However, with Americans tired of sending hundreds of thousands of troops to the Middle East, it’s time now for NATO to take the lead and all the member countries send troops.

The carrier Charles de Gaulle is a symbol of French resolve to take the lead. At least someone is stepping up to the international front. As the old adage goes: lead, follow, or get out the way. We should all follow France this time.

Paris, War, and “Desert Drizzel”

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The carnage in Paris is the latest step in an escalating war between radical, jihadist Muslims and western civilization. Only one side in this war is playing with force, and it’s not the civilized side.

Burned by the results of massive efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States and its western civilization allies have been hesitant to respond quickly and forcefully to the spread of the Islamic Caliphate (ISIS). Just bombing is not forceful enough.

We are getting attacked again, this time in Paris…twice this year. So how does western civilization, not just the United States, respond? David Deptula in Wall Street Journal coins the term “Desert Drizzle” a term in contrast to “Desert Storm.” Our responses to ISIS have been a drip here and there.

“France is at war,” stated French President Francois Hollande. The rest of the world needs to be at war with ISIS too, supporting France in its efforts to effectively respond to the attacks. Fortunately, there is an organization already in place that should take charge in the war: NATO.

Article 5 of the NATO Treaty states: “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them…” This article has only been used once in the history of NATO: by the United States after 9/11. France, or the European Union, should start in motion the process of activating this article by calling together all the ambassadors of the member nations. NATO could invite other nations like Russia, Saudi Arabia, even Iran, to join in this fight as “special allies.”

France as well as all other individual nations cannot do this alone. Common defense against deadly attacks is why NATO was formed. Hopefully France will take advantage of having the support of western civilization in their war against jihadism.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/11/14/we-cant-stop-islamic-state-desert-drizzle-column/75777004/

Veterans Day Needs More Than Thanks

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For the past week the television networks did a wonderful job of highlighting our troops overseas and in a variety of ways saying thanks to those in the military.

However, Veterans Day should be more than just saying thanks. It should be a time to think about why our troops today are in combat zones, the reasons they were sent there, and what the ultimate objective is in order to bring them home. No greater sacrifice is being made for our country. No greater issue needs to be constantly examined.

Reality is that to most all Americans the wars overseas are not often in our thoughts. We are not personally affected on a daily basis. Since most Americans never served in the military, saying “thanks” seems to be all we can do.

Not so. If we want to say a more meaningful thanks, we would make sure all Americans have to endure some form of sacrifice. Not in the life and death way of the military, but at least something to make going to war a very personal experience.

The best way to do that is for Americans to pay the excess cost needed to keep troops overseas in combat zones. As the then Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen commented, the gravest national security threat to America is our budget deficit. A big part of the deficit is the cost of keeping our military strong and operating it overseas.

If we all want to share in the sacrifice and force ourselves to think often of the purpose our troops are in combat, I suggest we need to have a gas tax that covers the cost of going to war. Our troops are in the Middle East because it is in America’s interest to have a stable world economy. Stable oil prices are one leg that provides that stability. Let’s pay for it with a variable gas tax that increases and decreases with the cost of our combat overseas: or through a special income tax charge.

A variable gas tax or special income tax would remind us frequently of the sacrifice our service men and women are making and allow us to join them in that sacrifice. It would also help reduce the budget deficit caused by the need to keep troops in harm’s way.

We all need to say thanks on Veterans Day. We should share in their sacrifices too.