Readers, leaders detail problems in surface force

[unhappycamper]

Readers, leaders detail problems in surface force
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 8, 2008 5:52:28 EDT

The commander of the Navy’s surface force took an unscheduled drive down the San Diego waterfront April 10 with his force master chief, and the two were not pleased with what they saw.

Sailors didn’t salute. Their uniforms were dirty. The ships showed rust, and their docks and parking lots were messy.

The conditions so offended Vice Adm. D.C. Curtis, the Navy’s Surface Force commander, that he issued a special message the next day urging sailors to “get back to basics” — get their uniforms and haircuts squared away, get their ships back into fighting trim, and generally look the part of sailors in “the world’s greatest navy,” he wrote.

Surface Force Master Chief (SW/AW) Michael Schanche sent a message of his own, singling out chiefs across the surface Navy and charging them with whipping their crews back into shape:

“Shipmates, I have always been incredibly proud to be the surface force master chief. Today however was the first time during my tenure that I have to say that I was professionally embarrassed!”


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/05/navy_surfor_inspection_050708w/



uhc comment: Shades of Vietnam. We all know how that ended:



April 30, 1975 - At 8:35 a.m., the last Americans, ten Marines from the embassy, depart Saigon, concluding the United States presence in Vietnam. North Vietnamese troops pour into Saigon and encounter little resistance. By 11 a.m., the red and blue Viet Cong flag flies from the presidential palace. President Minh broadcasts a message of unconditional surrender. The war is over.