Prioritizing for Success at Sea. Dr. William J. Parker III ► David Webb Show on Patriot Radio Sirius XM (Ch. 125). 7.29.21
Dr. William J. Parker III was interviewed by David Webb on his show on Patriot Radio Sirius XM (Ch. 125) on 7.29.21 discussing, “Prioritizing for Success at Sea.” Dr. Parker spoke about how in the U.S.Navy, it needs to focus on the Maritime Environment- how to Operate, Navigate and Communicate Effectively. David Webb brought up a Congressional report with some concerning warnings. Dr. Parker asked, “What is the Mission of the Navy?” He explained that when he took over as Commodore and later then Chief of Staff of all US Navy Surface Forces, he set his focus. Parker explained, “I put out General Order #1: Be Ready to Fight. Prioritize your time and your focus, so when we get in a situation… and it’s going down in milliseconds, and you need to be able to prioritize quickly and that’s where Operate, Navigate and Communicate came from.“
7.29.21 Transcript:
David Webb: You wrote about the Navy back in 2017, and now we have a crisis. Back then you wrote about the need for a maritime environment that focuses on operating, navigating and communicating effectively. Now, we have a Navy and reports where 94% of sailors say the Navy has a crisis of leadership and culture. This congressional report should trouble every American because the Navy, its mission and its involvement in commerce affects our nation and the entire world.
How do we address this?
Bill Parker: You can make a case for almost anything being important. But with limited resources we have, in ships, people and in finance, but we need to focus our efforts on those things that really matter.
What is the mission of the Navy? The mission to maintain train and equip combat and ready forces capable of winning wars or deterring aggression. The bottom line is that we need to be ready to fight. When I took over as Commodore in 2017, I put out General Order #1 which is entered “Be Ready to Fight.” #1, You need to prioritize your time and focus so when we do get into a situation where we need to fight or deter that aggression, we are prepared. #2, When it’s going down, it’s going down in milliseconds, and you need to be able to prioritize quickly and that’s where Operate, Navigate and Communicate came from.
David Webb: Who needs to address? This congressional report, titled, “A Report on the Fighting Culture of the United States’ Navy Surface fleet. Insufficient focus on war-fighting. A dominant and paralyzing, zero defect mentality. Corrosive over-responsiveness to media culture. Under investment in Surface Warfare Officer Training. Poorly resourced and executed surface ship maintenance program and a culture of micro-management. These are more than disturbing, dangerous titles to this reports and the facts in it.
Bill Parker: They are dangerous. Less than one half of one percent of the United State are on active duty right now. Those people that are there are intelligent, motivated and Patriotic Americans. David you know a ton of them, because you spend a lot of time with military. You know how well-educated and motived these people are. The reality is that when things come from on high and they are not focused on the mission, it gets confusing. If you are not focused on executing that mission and you start spending more time on other things, it becomes an issue. You can make a case for almost anything being important.
You have focus on those few things that really matter:
•making sure your ships are maintained,
•making sure your aviation assets are maintained,
•making sure you pilots are trained and they have enough hours in the cockpit,
•making sure your ship drivers have enough time at sea,
•making sure that your systems are the most modern systems capable of defending against new technologies that are coming down the line.
If you focus on those things, you will always have, and I do believe we have the best Navy in the world, but if you start slipping and focusing on things other than war-fighting priorities, you start having problems.
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