Politics or People: What Does the Navy Value?

“According to recently released Pentagon data on suicide across all the services, the Navy reported 24 suicides among its sailors for the first three months of 2024. That is the highest-ever quarterly figure for the service going back to 2018, when data first started being released.” 

 “Poor living conditions on ships in port is listed as a contributing cause of surging suicides in the Navy.” 

According to Marine Corps Times on May 2, 2024 “Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy says an average of 800 sailors have to live on ships after deployment due to lack of barracks.”   How is this tolerated in our Navy in 2024. It is disgraceful neglect of our most precious asset, our sailors!

The size of the Navy is continually shrinking but the number of suicides is going up. This begs the question about the quality of decision-making on things that affect sailor quality of life. This calls into question the Navy’s priorities. Are sailors important or is promoting political or social issues more important?

Instead of providing quality berthing accommodations to all sailors, here are other examples of how the Navy chooses to spend its funds: 

“The Department of the Navy (DON) is hosting Climate Action III, the third in a series of tabletop exercises (TTX) the DON has held during the last three years that validates and exercises Climate Action 2030, the DON’s climate strategy. The TTX, which will take place June 25-26 with Caribbean nations, and key stakeholders and partners, to identify areas of collaboration to increase climate resilience.” 

“The impacts of climate change, from increasing temperatures and droughts, to changing precipitation patterns and sea level rise, are impacting our forces, our communities, and economies,” said Meredith Berger, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations, and Environment and the Department of the Navy’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “Island and coastal nations like our Caribbean neighbors are on the front lines of this challenge, and we know that when we work together, we do better. We have a lot to learn from each other, and even more to gain from working together to build our shared climate resilience and enhance our collective security.”

In 2022 the Navy announced Climate Change 2030 Action Plan. It says, “Climate change is an existential threat that impacts not only our operations and readiness but also our infrastructure, our forces, and their families. Rising sea levels, recurring flooding, and more frequent and destructive hurricanes threaten our coastal installations. Changes in global climate and other dangerous trans-boundary threats, including pandemics, are only expected to worsen, posing increasing challenges for our forces, platforms, infrastructure, and supporting communities, and driving or intensifying conflict and humanitarian disasters around the world. The DON will adapt to these challenges that are increasingly putting pressure on our force and the systems that support it.”

Much of the above statement is false. Sea levels are slightly rising. This has been going on for an extended period. Science has demonstrated wide variability in sea level over lengthy periods of time. Flooding and destructive hurricanes are not increasing. The actual data shows a decline in flooding and hurricane frequency and strength over time since record keeping began. The impact of natural disasters on human mortality continues to decline to all-time lows as civilization and technology has advanced. Why does the Navy not read the actual data in the IPCC reports instead of the breathless reports by activists that report on worse case scenarios and exaggerate the risk tremendously. According to a study by the Lancet Public Health released in 2021, for every death attributed to heat, nine deaths are caused by cold.

How many millions will the Navy spend on climate change which represents a vanishingly small risk instead of taking care of its sailors? For a fair, factual and balanced view of the actual threat posed by climate change, please read Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters by Dr. Steven Koonin, a former Undersecretary of Energy under President Obama.

“The Department of the Navy (DON) joins the Nation in celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Pride Month during the month of June. LGBTQI+ Pride Month provides us with a platform to honor the perseverance and achievements of LGBTQI+ leaders within our ranks and reflect on the strides made in overcoming numerous obstacles to their Service.” 

It goes on like that extolling the virtues of the LGBTQI+ members for 4 more paragraphs. All this for what is estimated is still a very small percent of the military.  One report by an advocacy group cited 6% of the military as LGBTQI+ but DOD has not produced any data on the subject. How much is spent celebrating people’s sexual proclivities? How is that relevant to Navy readiness? How does celebrating sexual practices of LGBTQI+ sailors improve the morale of the 70%+ of the Navy who are professing Christians? This bowing to the far-left agenda aimed at destroying the nuclear family is damaging to the Navy, a distraction from serious matters such as the threats posed by our enemies, and waste of resources that could be spent on saving lives of despairing sailors who are contemplating taking their own lives due to unbearable circumstances associated with their naval service.

“The Naval War College (NWC) welcomes paper proposals for its 10th annual Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Conference, May 2-3, 2024, in Newport, Rhode Island. This year's theme is "Advancing Gendered Security in a Complex World: Hard Power, Smart Power, Soft Power."

“The event brings together U.S. and international scholars and experts, civilian and military practitioners, and leaders to better understand our complex and dynamic security environment. It examines women’s full and equal participation, decision-making, and leadership, alongside men, in promoting lasting peace and security.”

“The event brings together U.S. and international scholars and experts, civilian and military practitioners, and leaders to better understand our complex and dynamic security environment. It examines women’s full and equal participation, decision-making, and leadership, alongside men, in promoting lasting peace and security.”

Select papers will be considered for publication in a book related to the Symposium theme “Advancing Gendered Security in a Complex World: Hard Power, Smart Power, Soft Power.”

- Conflict-Related Sexual Violence 

- Rape as a strategic weapon of war

- Ethnic cleansing campaigns

- War crimes and genocide prevention

- Sexual slavery

- Forced Pregnancy, sterilization, and other forms of wartime sexual harm

- Gender Advisors in Maritime Operations

- Gender perspectives in maritime security strategies

- Gender-inclusive humanitarian disaster planning and response

- Human trafficking and Irregular Migration

- Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Forced Labor at Sea

- Women in the Maritime Industry, Coast Guard, Navy, and Marine Corps

- Gender Inclusion in Peace and Security Roles

- Feminist foreign policies

- Warrior women in history

How do these topics prepare the Navy to fight and win war? How much money is spent on such matters when we have a sailor committing suicide just about every day?

Navy leaders need to take a serious look at their mission statement. I’ll give you a hint, it is about preparing for and fighting our nation’s wars to defend our Republic.  It is not about following political agendas. Navy leaders should be about caring for and protecting sailors so that they can be honed into a lethal weapon to fight and win our nation’s wars. It is time for Navy leaders to take stock of how they spend their time and how the money gets spent. Every day should be a 100% focus on preparing for the next war and politics should be put aside.

CAPT Brent Ramsey, (USN, Ret.) has written extensively on Defense matters. He is an officer with Calvert Group, Board of Advisors member for the Center for Military Readiness and STARRS, and member of the Military Advisory Group for Congressman Chuck Edwards (NC-11).