How to fix the military - My observations

Last week Clint posted this blog about how to fix the Army. While I know very little about the Army, I now know a lot more than I would like about the Navy. And I have a few opinions of my own on how to improve the military...

1. Run it a little more like a business. There are so many things that the military does that just would not fly in the "real world". A lot of these are necessary for the country to be protected, but many aren't. If you brought the Bob's in from Office Space, they could have a hayday with the military. There are so many inefficiencies and useless jobs in the Navy. Plus, if someone just plain sucks at their job, you can't fire them. Unless they misbehave or somehow get in trouble, you just have to have this useless person sitting around creating more work for others while still soaking up the income and benefits.


2. The salaries: Instead of offering more money for being married & having kids, make everyone's salary a little higher, but even for single vs. married. Offering more money for people to get married is just stupid. And it probably helps out our country's rate of divorce. You tell a horny, immature 18 year old that he can marry that chick he has been dating for 2 weeks and MAKE DOUBLE his salary. What do you think is going to happen? This is a salary, not welfare. (Although often times it feels like welfare.) The military needs higher salaries. How can you expect to retain good soldiers/sailors if they could make 3 times their salary doing the same job out of the Navy. You are relying on patriotism. And at the end of the day, most people realize that they could go work in a gas station and never have to leave their families and make more money than they currently do in the Navy. (Now, some of the officers, I could argue make TOO much. Just because you have a four year degree does not make you qualified to lead.)


3. Only retain the GOOD people: The Navy tries to get pretty much everyone to reenlist. Numbers are great! But, a huge army of idiots isn't. There is a guy on Lee's ship that everyone complains about. He can't handle the most simple tasks. He totally screwed up the paint locker (seriously, the room where they keep the paint). He can't even keep his own finances in shape, Lee and Jay have to do it for him. (He owes $1k on his cell phone and is in debt because he bought ENCYCLOPEDIAS.) Most say that he is so dumb he shouldn't have gotten INTO the Navy in the first place. But, the Navy will allow him to reenlist and keep on sucking at his job. Also, the Navy allows tons of GOOD people to leave the Navy each year. These are people that are already trained and experienced and are leaving for higher salaries or because of poor treatment.


4. The hours: The working hours are either awesome or horrible. For people on the ships and overseas, the hours are terrible. For the people on shore duty, the hours are so easy. Recently, we have been trying to contact the office in charge of moving. Lee has been out to sea pretty much all week every week since Christmas. He has been trying to call the moving office, but finally realized their office closes at 4:30pm everyday and closes at noon on Fridays. Our friend Tom is an officer who just recently got put on shore duty. He works (and I kid you not) about 6 days a month inspecting ships. And he makes close to the same salary as I do. And if you ask almost anyone in the Navy to do their job, they act like it is a severe inconvenience. Lee complains about it on the ship, and I see it in the hospitals and pretty much every office I have spoken with.


5. Keep it simple, stupid: Every task in the Navy has about 5 more steps than it should. Lee and I have been trying to plan our move back to Indiana. Like I said above, Lee hasn't been able to call because of their hours. So, finally, I called. I hate calling because since I am MERELY a wife, I must be a total moron. (I would argue that I am the smart one for NOT being in the military, but whatever.) They have an automated message that tells you what to do and has different options. Basically, I was directed to one website. Then, after that, I was directed to a 2nd website. Then another phone number. Seriously, why do I need to visit 2 websites and call 2 phone numbers just to get one simple question answered?
6. Re-use, Renew, Recycle: Or whatever that saying is. The Navy wastes more money than I care to even think about. For example, many of the tools that they use are Craftsman. Most people know that Craftsman offers a LIFETIME warranty on all their tools. When a tool on the ship breaks, they throw it overboard (don't tell the environmentalists that one) and order a brand new one. Lee once saw them about to throw a broken Craftsman tool overboard and stopped them and asked for it. That night we took it to Sears and they handed us a brand new one for free, no questions asked. Also, sometimes the ship accidentally orders too many of something. Instead of returning them or storing them somewhere until they need them, they give them away first come first serve to the guys on the ship. Even the uniforms are a waste of time & money. The soldiers have dress blues, dress whites, utilities, coveralls, working blues, etc. They receive a stipend for buying uniforms. But, they hardly ever even wear a lot of the uniforms. I have never even seen Lee in his dress blues since his graduation from bootcamp. They only wear the whites while they are pulling in/out of port during the summer months. I am pretty sure they could narrow it down to just a few uniforms and save everyone a lot of money.

I could probably spend another hour writing about some of the stuff I have seen in the Navy, but I need to get back to work. But, this was a good venting session!!