The Decline of the U.S. Navy

I joined the navy in September of 1963. At that time there were a lot of chiefs from the World War Two era. They ran the navy and did a good job of it. Around 1968 their numbers were declining rapidly and by the seventies most were gone into retirement. That was a sad thing to me because as they left, the navy rapidly declined in its efficiency and operation at least where I was. The entire navy changed and that was not a good thing for me. When I was first out of boot camp, the lower rates had duty watches every four days, while higher rates had duty watches perhaps once a month. By the time I got out the situation had reversed completely. It wasn't just the watches; it was everything. The new guys were standing watches once a month or less. They were not reliable, so the navy's answer was to use the career sailors to stand watches. My opinion was that the policy was a very bad sign, so I got out mid decade when my enlistment was up. Things I have seen lately make me think it has only gotten worse. I am not saying that there are not good sailors, because there are. It is just that there aren't enough of them to satisfy me. As always I could be wrong and I hope I am, because the navy is an essential part of our national defense and when you include the marine corps (A part of the navy, despite the fact that the marines always want to deny that) the navy and marine corps is the major part of our national defense, followed closely by the army and the air force.