By Capt. Brent Ramsey, US Navy ret
STARRS Board of Advisors
Navy Mission:
“The United States is a maritime nation, and the U.S. Navy protects America at sea.
Alongside our allies and partners, we defend freedom, preserve economic prosperity, and keep the seas open and free.
Our nation is engaged in long-term competition.
To defend American interests around the globe, the U.S. Navy must remain prepared to execute our timeless role, as directed by Congress and the President.”
The Navy is a very large, complex, and dynamic organization and culture — more complex, more dynamic, and more tightly focused on mission than any on earth.
It is impossibly complex in terms of warfighting skill sets and technologies. What is true about the Navy is also true about all the armed services.
Small Unit Dynamics/Small Unit Success
The Navy is huge, but the mission is conducted using small unit dynamics in teams. Whether it is a bridge watch section, a damage control party, an aircraft crew, a gun mount crew, or any one of the hundreds of different small teams within much larger weapons platforms or units, the effectiveness of those small teams wins or loses the war.
Teamwork, unit cohesion, trust, camaraderie, and, yes, even love for those with us in combat — in a SEAL team, in an aircraft, and in myriad other delivery platforms of death that we use — is absolute.
My personal experience at the conn of a nuclear-capable destroyer during the Cold War, actively pinging a submerged Soviet Ballistic Missile submarine for five straight days, 24 hours a day, was that the pucker factor was extraordinary and exhilarating.
My bridge team was an exquisite, well-oiled, united, focused machine, with absolute unity on one thing and one thing only: staying on that sub’s track.
Unity, cohesion, common values, and purpose were the reasons we executed our mission. That sailor unity won the Cold War.
What is today’s Navy doing to promote the values just described above?
It recruits based on skin color and gender.
It promotes and assigns based on skin color and gender.
There are 16 affinity groups at the Naval Academy separating the midshipmen by race, gender, or sexual preference.
The Navy is promoting the noxious ideology of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) up and down the chain of command, at the academies, in recruit training, and at the War Colleges.
Every unit is swamped with DEI indoctrination. DEI zealots, in their own separate chain of command, enforce DEI goals.
All the services are on the same DEI path as the Navy.
What are the impacts of promoting DEI?
—Catastrophic recruiting shortfalls across all services over two years (-41,000).
—The Navy is now recruiting low-aptitude recruits with no high school diploma. Project 100,000 did the same from 1966 to 1971 and was an abject failure. The impact of enlisting uneducated, low-IQ sailors was a disaster.
—The Air Force offers up to $600K in bonuses to retain pilots, double the previous rate.
—Navy readiness and mission capabilities have declined over the period 2017-2021, according to the GAO and The Heritage Foundation.
—Students for Fair Admissions, who won cases in June at the Supreme Court banning racial discrimination at colleges and universities, have now sued West Point and Annapolis for racial discrimination.
—Trust in the military has plummeted 25% since 2018, according to the Reagan Foundation, with only 46% of people expressing great confidence in our military.
—Dozens of patriot groups are sounding the alarm, including STARRS, Calvert Group, Center for Military Readiness, Veterans for Fairness and Merit, Flag Officers 4 America, Heritage Foundation, Judicial Watch, Hillsdale College, and Restore Liberty.
—FOIA requests have been filed with service academies by STARRS, Judicial Watch, and others. Why is the military hiding its practices from the public?
—The Navy is short 22,000 sailors for deploying ships. The policy for deploying ships is 100% manning. Anything less is dangerous to the ship and crew.
—Leadership failures are endemic: Fat Leonard, Red Hill, Bonhomme Richard, BLM promotion at USNA, collisions at sea, grounding of the USS Connecticut, and failures of entire ship classes such as the Zumwalt class and the Littoral Combat Ship.
—Transgenders serve and receive medical treatment to transition, creating undue stress due to no replacements for those under treatment.
—Gay Price is celebrated, which is offensive to religious members.
—Biological men are allowed to berth and shower with women.
—American youth do not want to serve, in part because many have been taught in our schools to hate America. Gen Z is generally not willing to risk life in the military and is not qualified due to drugs, mental illness, tattoos, criminal records, and obesity.
—DEI is having a severe recruiting impact as white, male, southern Christians, a traditional bulwark of recruiting, are staying away.
—Serving members and veterans are telling youth to avoid service. These groups formerly encouraged young people to serve.
We are on the verge of war with hot spots in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the South China Sea.
The military ought to focus its attention on getting ready to defend our nation from our enemies.
Politics has no place in the military.
Anything less than a laser focus on core mission, unity, cohesion, and readiness is a recipe for defeat in war.
I entered the Navy at 18 year old right out of high school. I wanted a ship overseas and turned down schools just to be a Seaman Recruit. I loved the Navy and went fro Seaman Recruit to Senior Chief Petty Office the received my commission through the Limited Duty Officer Program. I served on USS MIDWAY, Battleship IOWA and USS NIMITZ. I planned on staying in the Navy until I legally had to retire or I quit having fun.
In 1998, I turned down my promotion to LCDR bc I quit having fun and I saw where the Navy was heading. I believe, and was told by many LDO Captains I would make Captain if I stayed in. But, the writing was on the wall. The Union came into the federal civil service and it was downhill from there.
All of the real Chiefs to Master Chiefs had retired and it became touchy feely. Sailors couldn’t be Sailors. And now I look at my Navy and know I would not fit at all in today’s Navy. Uniforms changed to look like Marines which was the beginning of Navy Traditions being dissolved.
Now, ppl join the military to get free transgender surgery. Gays are to be openly accepted and the language forced to use makes Sailors not want to speak or communicate. There is more time in classroom teaching CRT and other nonsensical language structure leaving no time for necessary battle training, first aid, and firefighting which are critical onboard ship.
I’ve asked many young men why they don’t want to join the military. The answers were straightforward and understandable.
They want to be in a military where you are required to be touch and feel macho when you put on your dress uniform. But, they feel it gives ppl the idea that all they are is overly diversified and do not feel masculine in uniform.
They want to live in an environment of old Navy traditions and give off the aura of being a touch member of the military. However, they feel they are just another Sailor who accepts gays, transgenders as they are the same.
But, these kids aren’t stupid and know they aren’t depicted as fighting men and women who are forced to believe in one way only; totally supportive of transgender and gay ppl that make the uncomfortable. We can’t meet recruiting goals and/or ppl want out.
It’s really sad where we went from a strong Navy bc of the strong Sailors.
During my career from the 70’s until my retirement in 1998, not once as enlisted or as an Officer experienced ANY racial issues or prejudices. We were all just Sailors and Marines. Race or color was never once an issue.
We no longer have exceptional leaders like Mike Borda, Frank Gallo, ADM Kelso, Brent Bennett and Fox Muller. There is just political leaders who are worried about their next promotion or the job they can land working for the Navy after they retire.
It disgusts me bc what leaders don’t do which was my number one job as a leader and that is “Never Forget the Sailor” which is exactly what current leaders have ignored.