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Merry Christmas, Sailors
In a reversal of what has to be the absolute stupidest decision ever made by military management, the United States Navy has decided to immediately restore rating titles. The backlash against this abject asininity was immediate, harsh, and continual. A petition on the white house change website easily met the requirements to receive official address. The CNO was forced to admit that he rammed his bow forcefully up his own stern and misjudged exactly how unpopular this course of action would be. It turns out that hundreds of years of tradition cannot simply be swept away by the stroke of a pen. As so perfectly displayed in this Broadside cartoon, ratings were, and will be again, a functional part of the way the Navy operates and performs its mission.
Merry Christmas to all you squids. You are more than a number again — for now.
Published in General
I agree! The next most stupid thing has to be the black beret. If we wanted to be French, we’d have Navy combat airwings like “The Fighting Escargot” or “The Mighty Mimes”.
Be glad it wasn’t “raspberry”…(Or did they actually consider that? Sheesh.)
Hopefully, things are moving along with your job change desires such that you will no longer have to re-qualify on the module “Structures – Ascent Devices – Manual – Static” ‘cuz dammit, you remember how to climb the ‘effin crane ladder already!
Good riddance to Mabus.
V/R,
HM2 Texmoor
They really should have carried this to its logical conclusion and included the flag ranks in the gender-neutral project. If memory serves, ‘Admiral,’ after all is derived from the Arabic term of Prince/Commander (masculine) of the sea.
I think this is more sinister than what is being reported.
I think back to how California used to get outrageous laws passed. They would propose a law that was insane and vastly unpopular in six different ways, with one being most especially outrageous. After the inevitable protests, they would take off that one really insane aspect of the proposed law, the protesters would leave and the other five onerous laws would be enacted.
Likewise, Mabus has distracted everyone with this stupid ranks nonsense that was pointless, but now he will continue on with changing the titles to be gender neutral and they’ll put women in the infantry and everyone is sighing in relief that they still get their ratings.
Classic.
They have been doing fine without aircraft carriers, too. Should the Navy get rid of them as well?
I caught your sarcasm, but you repeated the exact same argument made by senior Navy careerists who courted attention and approval from progressive elites.
Yes the US Army and Air Force say Left, Right, Walls and Floors. Translated for Sailors and Marines that means Port, Starboard, Bulkhead and Deck.
I suggest the Soldiers and Airman comply with our way of thinking.
David, please refresh my memory re: ‘ceiling’ in naval/Marine-speak? TY.
“Overhead”.
Forgive me, @davidwilder.
Sorry, I prefer my American military to speak English. ;)
Or, if you prefer, to know the difference between a boat and a building.
The US Navy has Ships. Boats are limited to submarines and very small water vessels. Buildings are for land based facilities.
We do speak English, just from a more robust and expanded lexicon.
Thank you….My Uncle and Cousin Colonels forgot this one…Oops.
*eyeroll*
Did not mean to bust your chops. However to many of us former Sailors and Marines our lexicon and traditions are a part of a share ethos. Our military services have the varying cultures. While different, they have served this country well. Why fixed what isn’t broke. New Ship classes that breakdown on a regular basis are a much bigger problem.
Peace!
You should know that I am an Air Force veteran, and making fun of Navyspeak is one of our traditions (and I’m pretty sure the Army and Marines get in on the fun too.) ;)
Actually, Marines are better at nautical jargon than even the Navy, sometimes.
And they can march…
We were taught is that a boat is a vessel small enough to fit inside another vessel (called a ship). This definition sort of breaks down, because just about everything will fit inside an aircraft carrier (except some of the largest cruise ships).
Right, I’ll concede error on this one. It’s been a while since I had to interact with the jarheads,
It certainly does break down when you consider a submarine is called a Boat. Last I checked an SSBN is rather large. We were told outside of a submarine, if it was smaller than a Frigate it was probably a Boat.
Of course I could be mistaken. I was a dry land sailor having spent my sea tour with the USMC. It was one of those small details my recruiter failed to informed me. Navy Corpsman get shipped off to the Marines.
And, boy are we grateful, Doc! RAH and S/F! Merry Christmas!
Each service mocks the other, as this pilot found out when he landed on the wrong carrier.
I used to be an aircraft maintenance officer (maintenance control officer) for a Marine A-6 squadron. One time one of my jets had some problems in Hill Air Force base after the crew stopped there for a weekend of skiing. There was a series of stupidities by the air crew combined with a faulty canopy jettison system when they were servicing the aircraft to prepare to depart. Most people assumed they intended to claim the bird was broken to extend their ski slope time by a few days, but things got out of hand. To keep the story short, let’s just say the aircraft needed some serious structural work on the vertical stab to be performed before flying again. Fortunately Hill had some very talented depot-level facilities that fixed it up nice.
But when the plane was returned, it was painted trainer orange and “Ski Utah” was stenciled all over the plane. It was pretty embarrassing. I had that thing towed into the barn immediately to repaint it. I was still angrier at the crew than I was at the Air Force, but since the pilot was my direct boss I had to bite my tongue. I was so glad when that dummy transferred out two years early.
Actually, a boat is usually a vessel that can be launched from another vessel, regardless of size, or a coastal craft. A submarine may be affectionately called a boat only by its own crew, but is always referred to as a submarine (or just a “sub”) by other mariners, never “ship” or “boat” which would be confusing in a maritime environment.
Got that?
Not true. Subs are called boats.
Alrighty! All we need is a bar, a few unattached chairs, some tattoos, and we got us a popcorn-worthy brawl!