Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who has spent the past two years trying to wean the service off of fossil fuels, said promotion boards will consider an officer’s energy management when deciding whether to move him up. Furthermore, Battle E commendations will be based, in small part, on a command’s ability to sip fuel instead of guzzle.Look, if the SecNav wants to cut fuel costs that's arguably a good idea, though I would assert it is not necessary to take drastic measures that will hurt combat preparedness. What fries my bacon is his persistent assertion that there is an U.S. strategic fuel shortage and that it requires drastic steps, including pumping millions of DON money into creating a "biofuels" market. Why isn't he screaming for more nuclear powered ships? That's the ultimate effective "energy management" to beat the SecNav's concerns of reducing
. . . the sea services’ dependence on oil from adversaries while reducing the need to refuel, which takes ships out of combat while making them vulnerable to attacks.
As I have said before here, and here, the U.S. has plenty of fossil fuels to operate our Navy for hundreds of years. In the latter post I wrote, "When we claim we're "hostages" to foreign energy, we're just being stupid. Politically correct, but stupid." Develop the energy we have, and stop this nonsense.
This program of the SecNav is a another misstep in already overly "politically correct" environment.
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On the other hand, sail makers should be out in force, selling "new" wind energy tools for optimum fuel savings for promotion hungry officers.
Or, hey, just tie the ships up and send the crews home to practice being at sea by playing video games and following other silly guidelines.
At this time being green should be down the line on promotions. Command and control, knowing the "enemy" and naval warfare should be the controlling abilities should be. The US cannot afford to try to defend the nation on the cheep not saying that we should squander resources thought.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the not "squander" part. However, developing our own energy resources will create jobs and help with energy security now.
ReplyDeleteIf the decision is made to develop biofuels, they should compete in a real market, not one phonied up by restricting the development of our abundant fossil fuels.
If saving energy is a criterion had been a criterion for promotion, one JO known as "Pilowman" would be a fleet admiral by now...
ReplyDeleteI'm all for being as efficient as possible and continued research on other ways of making fuels, if for no other reason, potential tech spin-offs that are likely to come out of it. Barring another Teapot Dome, though, it seems that we've got enough domestic reserves to continue to operate the Armed Forces.
In related news, the I-35/37 corridor, which follows the Eagle Ford trend, is apparently going nuts. One correspondent reports that there are billboards everywhere advertising for oil patch jobs and support positions. For readers who are unfamiliar with the industry, these are not typically the sort of minimum wage jobs that some say are the bulk of Texas' employment boom (those will expand, as well, oil field workers eat hamburgers and go to stores, too).
The problem is that the Navy bought lock stock and barrel into the common DoD problem of providing fuel into Iraq. Both the Army and Marines are eager to make it a navy problem since they don't want anything to do with it. That whole renewable fuel/notfossil fuels crap is driven by the DoD and worthless flags such as the former COMNECC, now Deputy JFCOM. She and the ASST SEC of Defense told us that we were mandated to come up with a way to cut back on fossil fuels by up to 60% by 2020. Moving real fuel 800 miles inland to Af plus then redistributing it to all the little FOBS and generators and vehicles is a huge pain in the ass and so the 'file your head to a sharp point' crowd in the Pentagon came up with a plan to tell contractors that future defense solutions need to meet the 2020 goal starting now.
ReplyDeleteYou wonder how a Solyndra comes along,,,,,,Oh I mean in addition to the shear corruption, crony capitalism, fraud, deceit, dishonesty, etc. Well, this is where it starts. Kind of like LCS really.