<p>If the headlines tomorrow announced that attrition at the Navy Nuclear Power School had reached an all time high because, instead of going to class and studying, the students were working in HfH and soup kitchens, due to the NPS Commander’s decision to follow the new CNO’s guidelines of “soft power”,we would all be up in arms due to the waste of taxpayer’s money. NPS and USNA are training environments, environments where students are expected to expend long hours in order to excel. Neither would a combatant ever depart a critical mission in Iraq to go build houses in South America.It is all priorities. No misinterpretation. No Supt “marching to his own drum”, defying the new CNO. There is a curriculum and a regimented lifestyle which Adm Fowler feels is not conducive to many ECs, humanitarian ones included, and requires the full attention of the Brigade. It is not the fact that they are humanitarian, but that they are “secondary, …”. There is a time and place for everything. USNA, today, Adm Fowler obviously feels, is not the time or place to showcase humanitarian efforts. </p>
<p>If “soft power” were the sole goal of the Navy, we would be sending our midshipmen to schools to learn carpentry, masonry, plumbing, and electrical trades, instead of sending them to USNA to learn to be military officers.</p>
<p>All of this should be fairly obvious, but to those who suddenly realize that the riverine forces are more likely to draw hostile fire than a frigate sitting 50 miles off the coast, it may be an eye opener.</p>
<p>OBTW, it continues to puzzle me that those who feel that the Navy is a “conspiracies of incompetence” led by examples of the Peter Principal in action, can, in good faith and with a positive attitude, support their midshipmen and their career choice, much less be a part of the selection process for future Naval officers.</p>