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Ex-SEAL Carl Higbie: Bureaucratic zombies are ruining our military. We must pivot now
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Jul 26, 2017, 1:54:49 PM7/26/17
to
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/07/20/ex-seal-carl-higbie-
bureaucratic-zombies-are-ruining-our-military-must-pivot-now.html
Before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, America’s military totaled less
than one and a half million soldiers, sailors, Marines, and Coast men.
Waiting for our nation stood the Japanese at over 6,000,000 men strong and
the Germans at well over 10,000,000. Compounding matters was the fact
that our adversaries outnumbered our ships. Yet America, despite the odds,
won. How?
While the short answer is the atomic bomb but the real question is how we
made it happen in the first place.
I believe a large reason for our victory grew from American exceptionalism
and the unchained drive to innovate combined with America’s citizen-
soldier military.
The men and women who joined the fight took their business mentality and
understood how to get things done, our politicians had the political will,
goals and trust in our military.
Having served in the military I can state without hesitation that our
military lacks the qualities of World War II’s citizen-soldier force.
Do not be confused; our modern military is comprised of good people, men
and women who want to make a difference in world but the system however,
the mindless and political bureaucracy, thwarts the young service member
and is leading to a weakened military.
Many of our ranking commanders have become career and rank obsessed, rules
of laws rather than leaders of men. As these types climb the rank they
forget that the military’s job is to put bullets in bad guys and somewhere
along the line turn to a commitment of appeasement.
I want to give great credit to this piece “Why Our Best Officers Are
Leaving”, which sums up the reason for the dismay in the ranks and why
many of the military’s best men are departing and leaving, at times,
subpar officers are in positions that require better men.
Facing forces like North Korea and ISIS today we need to unleash the
individual genius of innovation.
While in the Navy, I watched as politics sidelined the most productive,
sharpest, and talented soldiers.
Unfortunately, the career soldiers and sailors—like career
politicians—turn into bureaucratic zombies, those few who can stand the
mind-numbing evolve into the rulers-of-laws rather than leaders of men.
Unfortunately, many of these career soldiers and sailors become fixated on
their own careers and turn into “career before country” patriots.
These are the military “leaders” who discourage the free-thinker,
institute needless rules, protocols and redundancy. They pride structure
over function, stifle innovation, creativity, and productivity.
Sadly they are crushing our military with the weight of their bureaucratic
machinery and will continue to do so regardless of the $700 billion dollar
budget we need and now that we have the proper leadership.
As we re-engage our 15-year war in the Middle East, our military has been
pushed to serving longer deployments and larger tasks.
Throughout Barack Obama’s presidency, funding was cut, manning was
decreased and the moral eviscerated. This, combined with the politically
intensifying atmosphere, led to a force that was depleted both physically
and ideologically.
To combat this, the military began handing out significant retention
bonuses for service members who re-enlisted for set periods of time, but
only after the loss in the force, leaving huge delays in not only re-
manning troop’s levels but also gaps in our most skilled positions needed
to keep America at the top of the food chain.
We need to trim the fat. If you have a sports team that is being slowed
down by someone you cut them. In a recent report, it was found that the
pentagon had over $120 billion dollars in wasteful spending.
You must cut the redundancy. We have untold numbers of civilian
contractors that do nothing of importance, give them the axe.
Next; we must examine the budget system. Every unit is given “X” dollars a
year to spend on its needs, if you don’t spend all of it by the end of the
year, you lose it for the next year. If you spend it all, you get last
year’s budget plus a marginal addition based on a force-wide percentage of
increase.
This is the opposite of fiscal conservatism, it actually entices units to
spend money.
When I was at SEAL team 10, we often took extravagant and needless
“training” trips at the end of each fiscal year to burn the rest of the
money in our budget so we wouldn’t lose any in the next year.
Enough! Start every year with zero and justify each expenditure, it will
save the DOD billions.
Finally, we must address the promotion structure (which is tough to do in
an op-ed but here’s the run down):
- Stop automatic and written test promotions. Currently much of the
promotion system is based on time in and checking boxes.
- Make the promotion system a 360 evaluation. Look at superiors,
subordinates and peers. Rank everyone against each other and promote the
best ones. That's simple enough.
With the dawn of Donald Trump, who overwhelmingly won the military vote,
we have a unique opportunity to reassert ourselves on the world’s stage as
the military powerhouse we once were.
Our military can be great again but it will take some changes from how
things have been done over the last decade.
Secretary Mattis and President Trump are very honorable men and are
fashionably suited for this task so I believe it can happen.
The world is a better place when America is strong.
Carl Higbie was a Special Operator with SEAL Team Ten, Echo Platoon. He
deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His most recent book
is "Enemies, Foreign and Domestic: A SEAL's Story."
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the
Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
bureaucratic-zombies-are-ruining-our-military-must-pivot-now.html
Before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, America’s military totaled less
than one and a half million soldiers, sailors, Marines, and Coast men.
Waiting for our nation stood the Japanese at over 6,000,000 men strong and
the Germans at well over 10,000,000. Compounding matters was the fact
that our adversaries outnumbered our ships. Yet America, despite the odds,
won. How?
While the short answer is the atomic bomb but the real question is how we
made it happen in the first place.
I believe a large reason for our victory grew from American exceptionalism
and the unchained drive to innovate combined with America’s citizen-
soldier military.
The men and women who joined the fight took their business mentality and
understood how to get things done, our politicians had the political will,
goals and trust in our military.
Having served in the military I can state without hesitation that our
military lacks the qualities of World War II’s citizen-soldier force.
Do not be confused; our modern military is comprised of good people, men
and women who want to make a difference in world but the system however,
the mindless and political bureaucracy, thwarts the young service member
and is leading to a weakened military.
Many of our ranking commanders have become career and rank obsessed, rules
of laws rather than leaders of men. As these types climb the rank they
forget that the military’s job is to put bullets in bad guys and somewhere
along the line turn to a commitment of appeasement.
I want to give great credit to this piece “Why Our Best Officers Are
Leaving”, which sums up the reason for the dismay in the ranks and why
many of the military’s best men are departing and leaving, at times,
subpar officers are in positions that require better men.
Facing forces like North Korea and ISIS today we need to unleash the
individual genius of innovation.
While in the Navy, I watched as politics sidelined the most productive,
sharpest, and talented soldiers.
Unfortunately, the career soldiers and sailors—like career
politicians—turn into bureaucratic zombies, those few who can stand the
mind-numbing evolve into the rulers-of-laws rather than leaders of men.
Unfortunately, many of these career soldiers and sailors become fixated on
their own careers and turn into “career before country” patriots.
These are the military “leaders” who discourage the free-thinker,
institute needless rules, protocols and redundancy. They pride structure
over function, stifle innovation, creativity, and productivity.
Sadly they are crushing our military with the weight of their bureaucratic
machinery and will continue to do so regardless of the $700 billion dollar
budget we need and now that we have the proper leadership.
As we re-engage our 15-year war in the Middle East, our military has been
pushed to serving longer deployments and larger tasks.
Throughout Barack Obama’s presidency, funding was cut, manning was
decreased and the moral eviscerated. This, combined with the politically
intensifying atmosphere, led to a force that was depleted both physically
and ideologically.
To combat this, the military began handing out significant retention
bonuses for service members who re-enlisted for set periods of time, but
only after the loss in the force, leaving huge delays in not only re-
manning troop’s levels but also gaps in our most skilled positions needed
to keep America at the top of the food chain.
We need to trim the fat. If you have a sports team that is being slowed
down by someone you cut them. In a recent report, it was found that the
pentagon had over $120 billion dollars in wasteful spending.
You must cut the redundancy. We have untold numbers of civilian
contractors that do nothing of importance, give them the axe.
Next; we must examine the budget system. Every unit is given “X” dollars a
year to spend on its needs, if you don’t spend all of it by the end of the
year, you lose it for the next year. If you spend it all, you get last
year’s budget plus a marginal addition based on a force-wide percentage of
increase.
This is the opposite of fiscal conservatism, it actually entices units to
spend money.
When I was at SEAL team 10, we often took extravagant and needless
“training” trips at the end of each fiscal year to burn the rest of the
money in our budget so we wouldn’t lose any in the next year.
Enough! Start every year with zero and justify each expenditure, it will
save the DOD billions.
Finally, we must address the promotion structure (which is tough to do in
an op-ed but here’s the run down):
- Stop automatic and written test promotions. Currently much of the
promotion system is based on time in and checking boxes.
- Make the promotion system a 360 evaluation. Look at superiors,
subordinates and peers. Rank everyone against each other and promote the
best ones. That's simple enough.
With the dawn of Donald Trump, who overwhelmingly won the military vote,
we have a unique opportunity to reassert ourselves on the world’s stage as
the military powerhouse we once were.
Our military can be great again but it will take some changes from how
things have been done over the last decade.
Secretary Mattis and President Trump are very honorable men and are
fashionably suited for this task so I believe it can happen.
The world is a better place when America is strong.
Carl Higbie was a Special Operator with SEAL Team Ten, Echo Platoon. He
deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His most recent book
is "Enemies, Foreign and Domestic: A SEAL's Story."
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the
Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
PaxPerPoten
Jul 27, 2017, 6:35:40 AM7/27/17
to
On 7/26/2017 12:54 PM, Leroy N. Soetoro wrote:
> http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/07/20/ex-seal-carl-higbie-
> bureaucratic-zombies-are-ruining-our-military-must-pivot-now.html
Who the Hell wants to serve in a Military that caters to Homosexuals,
Transgenders and (Men and Women)-who demand equal ratings and training
with special forces folks? i.e. Seals, Rangers, recon Mrines etc. In
fact we need to toughen up our boot camps as they were in the past. we
also need to kick the asses of Politicians that are not capable.. Of
micromanaging our troops for their own damned aggrandizement. Also it is
time that Congress asks the Grunts what equipment is needed and how
much...Rather then cutting vote deals to build unneeded expensive crap
in their congressional districts. If their constituents need
jobs...Start some CCC camps to rebuild their districts infrastructure.
Lots of unemployed Democrats in Prison that could do some free chain
gang labor.
It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard
the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all
ages who mean to govern well, but *They mean to govern*. They promise to
be good masters, *but they mean to be masters*. Daniel Webster
> http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/07/20/ex-seal-carl-higbie-
> bureaucratic-zombies-are-ruining-our-military-must-pivot-now.html
Who the Hell wants to serve in a Military that caters to Homosexuals,
Transgenders and (Men and Women)-who demand equal ratings and training
with special forces folks? i.e. Seals, Rangers, recon Mrines etc. In
fact we need to toughen up our boot camps as they were in the past. we
also need to kick the asses of Politicians that are not capable.. Of
micromanaging our troops for their own damned aggrandizement. Also it is
time that Congress asks the Grunts what equipment is needed and how
much...Rather then cutting vote deals to build unneeded expensive crap
in their congressional districts. If their constituents need
jobs...Start some CCC camps to rebuild their districts infrastructure.
Lots of unemployed Democrats in Prison that could do some free chain
gang labor.
the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all
ages who mean to govern well, but *They mean to govern*. They promise to
be good masters, *but they mean to be masters*. Daniel Webster
eagleso...@gmail.com
Jul 27, 2017, 10:48:47 AM7/27/17
to
Under President Reagan there was an actual program started in the USA military. It codified the business management role of the officer.
Proper manager skill was demanded for advancement.
I guess it has only gotten worse.
I can understand this point of view for the logistical part of the military, but am left bereft of the topic of battle soldier management skills. It is a true topic. For instance, after five years of flying F-15's an officer is demanded to begin management roles in the 1990's, not fly.
In game theory land an advancing pilot should be assigned too wing type flying, like the old SAC. The question being how to have enough wings for the advancing pilots? But there are not enough. Keeping all of them in reserve formally is the correct duty change. Not National Guard, but monthly flight time assignment. It needs special funding because hours of training proficiency costs real dollars. But in readiness terms it is super well needed.
For what it is worth. An Army captain in nuclear can discover the correct theory of radioactive decay measurement, and still be ejected. She changed the whole world and was passed over. She did go on to happy classified scientific lab work though. Doing satellite radiation hardening science.
Fred J. McCall
Jul 27, 2017, 4:31:06 PM7/27/17
to
Can anyone make any sense out of Dougie's gibberish? He seems to be
getting worse...
--
"Ordinarily he is insane. But he has lucid moments when he is
only stupid."
-- Heinrich Heine
getting worse...
"Ordinarily he is insane. But he has lucid moments when he is
only stupid."
-- Heinrich Heine
Peter Stickney
Jul 28, 2017, 12:30:05 PM7/28/17
to
On Thu, 27 Jul 2017 13:31:03 -0700, Fred J. McCall wrote:
> Can anyone make any sense out of Dougie's gibberish? He seems to be
> getting worse...
Seems to be an error in the CRM-114 Gibberish Decoding unit.
> Can anyone make any sense out of Dougie's gibberish? He seems to be
> getting worse...
A system overheat perhaps?
Somebody should call Field Service.
--
Pete Stickney
“A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures.” ― Daniel Webster
Dean Markley
Jul 28, 2017, 2:22:03 PM7/28/17
to
Peter Stickney
Jul 28, 2017, 11:10:05 PM7/28/17
to
But you know what it's like to get stuff shipped from Metaluna this time
of year - maybe we should check EBay, just in case.
eagleso...@gmail.com
Jul 29, 2017, 10:35:37 AM7/29/17
to
More idiot derision McCall?
You are not supposed to make sense of it because it is contextual fact.
You won't be getting any useful help from me.
In general the most important fact of the Seat team guy is business skill and desire necessity in the US military. If somebody is deciding about joining up they need to be honest to these deciding people. At Lutnetet in the Navy you should know before joining that you will become a business manager after Leutenet. This fact needs full disclosure.
You are not supposed to make sense of it because it is contextual fact.
You won't be getting any useful help from me.
In general the most important fact of the Seat team guy is business skill and desire necessity in the US military. If somebody is deciding about joining up they need to be honest to these deciding people. At Lutnetet in the Navy you should know before joining that you will become a business manager after Leutenet. This fact needs full disclosure.
Fred J. McCall
Jul 29, 2017, 11:29:38 AM7/29/17
to
eagleso...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>More idiot derision McCall?
>
If you don't like the idiot derision, Dougie, perhaps you should stop
being an idiot?
>
>You are not supposed to make sense of it because it is contextual fact.
>
But facts make sense, Dougie. Gibberish is what you post and
gibberish doesn't make sense.
>
>You won't be getting any useful help from me.
>
Well, I knew that, what with you being an incomprehensible gibbering
idiot.
>
>In general the most important fact of the Seat team guy is business skill and desire necessity in the US military. If somebody is deciding about joining up they need to be honest to these deciding people. At Lutnetet in the Navy you should know before joining that you will become a business manager after Leutenet. This fact needs full disclosure.
>
What's a "Seat team"? What's a "Lutnetet"? What's a "Leutenet" and
is it anything like a "Lutnetet" and does either of those resenble a
'lieutenant'? If so, your statement is barely partly true. You need
medication.
>
>More idiot derision McCall?
>
If you don't like the idiot derision, Dougie, perhaps you should stop
being an idiot?
>
>You are not supposed to make sense of it because it is contextual fact.
>
gibberish doesn't make sense.
>
>You won't be getting any useful help from me.
>
idiot.
>
>In general the most important fact of the Seat team guy is business skill and desire necessity in the US military. If somebody is deciding about joining up they need to be honest to these deciding people. At Lutnetet in the Navy you should know before joining that you will become a business manager after Leutenet. This fact needs full disclosure.
>
is it anything like a "Lutnetet" and does either of those resenble a
'lieutenant'? If so, your statement is barely partly true. You need
medication.
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