I speculated at the time that the reason for this collision and the deaths of seven US sailors was poor training, lack of discipline, and pi*s poor seamanship. The investigation into the accident pretty much confirmed that opinion.

However I just ran across this: much worse than even I imagined.

http://neveryetmelted.com/2018/06/20/uss-fitzgerald-collision-connected-to-fe...

i agree with you about the lowering of standards, but it is a fact that standards have been lowered much more for women than they have for men in a misguided attempt at "diversity" and "inclusiveness'. That's not "women bashing" it's the simple truth.

Read the links highlighted in red in the article that I linked to.  One of the officers in the CIC mentioned in the hearing for Lt. Coombs was not female.His  action was also sub-standard on the night in question. That hearing also discussed the systemic issues with maintenance and training in the CIC."Complacency" is the term used.

This statement is inaccurate and unfair:.

Quote:


I have a nephew currently serving on the USS  Bush( CVN 77) and he certainly did not enlist in the Navy to avoid working in a car wash. He graduated from HS near the top of his class.

And don't forget that the people referenced in the article are OFFICERS. College graduates at the very least. Some of them possibly graduates of the USNA.

Most of the reports that I remember reading immediately after the incident occured mentioned the bravery and competence of the young enlisted sailors. Including the actions of a young  E5 who lost his life after  repeatedly diving into the flooded berthing compartment to try to rescue trapped shipmates.

You applaud the bravery of the men and women fighting to save their shipmates - so do I, and I noted in my first post that here are some great high quality people in our military.  It is the overall "Bell Curve" that I refer to.
 I have no doubt that the military played fast and loose with the rules in order to achieve the political aims of their leaders, I saw that first hand in the Army and the Navy, God bless em, is even more traditional (I suspect).  
Way back when, The Army was  pushing the Green Beanies  and every NCO development course, when it came time, guess who was class honor grad..you got it.  So yah, if women were the political priority, I am sure the playing field was tilted; but just like affirmative action for people of color it sometimes takes a tilting of the field to correct for a many lifetime long institutional bias.

Trippah wrote on 06/23/18 at 07:53:08:

As for college grads, well......you know many come through the community college system which is simply trying to bring people up to what used to be high school graduate levels of competency. 
I tried a search to find the actual report but didn't have much luck, google gave me every stupid article about the collision.  I'll try again this afternoon, but if you find the actual report, please post a link.
Like you, I want a competent military.  I admire the sacrifice involved in career active duty.  But, as history has shown, our preconceptions may inder that goal.  We thought blacks could never be good soldiers, and now its women, yet is was a woman intel analyst who led the successful  hunt for Osama Bin  Laden.

"...We thought blacks could never be good soldiers, and now its women..."

That is the Ultra-Lefty, Pushing that Pendulum TO FAR,
WAY, to far,    the other way.

Some blacks make good Soldiers, some make bad Soldiers.
Some women make good Soldiers, some make bad Soldiers.
Some Somalians make good Cops, some make Bad Cops.

It is the Ultra-Left, Fairy Dust  Sprinkling, Kum-By-You singing, snowflake,  That does NOT  understand, or ever will.
That it is,  PEOPLE,   NOT the skin, race, religion, sex, etc, that make a person good or bad.
In life, or at a Job.

Here is the Job.  One is either, Qualified to do it, or they are not.

It is the, Ultra-Left, Fairy Dust  Sprinkling, Kum-By-You singing, snowflake,  that want to make, what THEY, believe is equal, like NOT, requiring a woman to run, xxx distance, while caring xxx weight, when she is applying for a job, that those, ARE, the requirements.

YET, they have NO desire, for equality, when a, 5-2”, 98 lb, women,
faces a 6-4”, 260 lb man, who desires to do her bodily harm.