Navy Sends Out Layoff Notices To 67 Civilians

[UpInArms]

http://www.komotv.com/stories/29563.htm

BREMERTON - Layoff notices have been sent out to 67 civilian Navy employees in the Puget Sound area whose jobs are being eliminated April 30.

The Navy also is eliminating 453 other civilian jobs - currently vacant - in the region. Kitsap County is taking the brunt of both moves, with 44 layoffs and 337 abolished positions.

The Navy is trying to save $40 billion over the next four years to pay for construction of new ships. The Navy now has 294 ships, the lowest level in 80 years.

...more...

[tinymontgomery]

1. They started firing some of the active duty force

They started firing some of the active duty force a few weeks ago. In the navy times there was an article about 400 and some odd officers being let go for not getting through a flight school. Now this may not sound bad except that most of them were ex-enlisted with about 10 to 12 years in as enlisted and then crossed over to the officer program. so basicly 12 years down the tubes.
As background the guys that used to fail out of flight school would be given the chance to go into another career path such as ship driver or supply officer. A lot of the guys that were interviewed were pretty pissed off. I wonder if they voted repuke and thought that * was going to help the military?

[haele]

3. Most likely they were Democrats or Independants...

Ex-enlisted? They were mustangs, and therefore, they actually "worked for a living" at one time or another, had actually had to show some sort of initiative and/or leadership, and are less likely to blindly follow orders and think of "their guys" as cannon fodder.

Mustangs generally understand "the system" better than the average OCS or ring-knocker, and are usually far more skeptical of the motivations of those in charge and have usually shown they have the ability to think of the ramifications of the various orders given to them than most officers. I've seen many a mustang get the job done efficiently and with less adversity - even though he or she didn't quite follow orders the way the "superior officer" wanted them executed.

Still, with the current manpower issues, it's odd that they'd just let 400+ experienced officers go. However, since they're Navy and not in a groundpounder type service, I can see an administration that's more concerned with having enough cannon fodder than having a quality military would let them go.

Haele

[Cooley Hurd]

2. This is a stupid statement...

The Navy now has 294 ships, the lowest level in 80 years.

Ships today are much more multi-functional, so there's no need for as many ships as we had 80 years ago...

Jeez, are we still trying to match Imperial Germany battleship for battleship?