- "Political Animal" column - A sentinel sounds an alarm - by Bill Kling
- "Watchman, what of the night?" is an Old Testament question [Isaiah
- 21:11] that might've been asked of Adm. John B. Nathman last month as he took
- command of the U.S. Navy's air units in the far-flung Pacific Fleet.
- Nathman's answer, in remarks at the Aug. 23 command-change ceremony,
- should be troubling to us and to our Prince William County neighbors serving
- in the armed forces.
- The admiral warned there's "a fundamental disconnect" between what we
- require of our Navy today "and the willingness of the richest nation on earth
- to pay for its demands."
- "It is obvious the naval service is undervalued," Nathman told 1,000
- sailors, Marines and civilians on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier
- Constellation berthed at North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego.
- "This is the challenge," he declared. "It must be resolved."
- In his new post, Nathman oversees personnel, maintenance and training of
- all naval aviation units from the Mississippi River west to the Indian Ocean.
- That includes six aircraft carriers and 79 naval aviation squadrons.
- That makes Nathman's warning, circulating by e-mail among active-duty and
- retired military types, as courageous as it's timely. A political campaign's
- afoot with the White House, a third of the U.S. Senate and all of the U.S.
- House of Representatives on the line.
- And when current campaign discussions turn to the readiness of our armed
- forces to defend us and our national interests, Democrats and Republicans
- alike seem rhetorically hell-bent on parroting the deceptive Wizard of Oz -
- "Don't listen to that man behind the curtain."
- The day before Nathman's speech, Vice President Albert Gore, the
- Democrats' nominee for president, told the American people everything's
- simply hunky-dory with our national defense. He was responding to
- allegations by his GOP opponent, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, that our military
- is lagging seriously behind what's really needed in training and technology
- to keep us secure in the decades ahead.
- Then Defense Secretary Bill Cohen, a putative Republican and former U.S.
- senator from Maine who spent some of his time on Capitol Hill authoring a
- novel, said large cuts in the national defense budget began when Bush's
- father was president.
- Cohen didn't mention that he, as a member of the Senate Armed Services
- Committee, was among those in Congress demanding those cuts. Or that
- families of thousands of enlisted personnel are obliged to subsist on federal
- food stamps.
- Nathman has reason to know these devious ways of our nation's capital.
- Before his current command, he was director of the Navy's air warfare,
- overseeing aviation policy and programs. There, he was in a position to
- observe firsthand how the cynical, self-serving politics of our national
- leaders often adversely and sometimes dangerously affect the men and women
- standing guard in a still-perilous world.
- "There are two fundamental issues we should understand - demand and
- value, " said Nathman, a 1970 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who has
- flown more than 3,600 hours in 40 types of aircraft and has made more than
- 750 carrier landings.
- "This nation - its president and its citizens - demand global stability;
- demand a world inclined to democratic ideals and countries that will protect
- the rights of their citizens.
"There is a valid need for a global economy, one that the United States
- intends to lead. There's a need for constrained oil pricing. There's a need
- for a community of nations that can deal effectively with rogue states and
- bullies - this is what the U.S. Navy does.
- "The value of the naval service is its willingness to do its duty to meet
- the nation's demands. We will be asked - no ordered - to train, deploy and
- engage. We engage diplomatically with our forward presence and, if
- necessary, in combat to sustain those demands.
- "Is it not right then that our men and women have demands too?
- "Isn't it right that the pilots and aircrew we send daily into harm's way
- have modern and capable aircraft?
- "Isn't it right that our young men and women expect to work in efficient,
- clean, connected and even new hangers [sic] and work spaces?
- "Isn't it right that my naval air force be sustained at levels which
- support our operations and tempo?
- "Isn't it right that our sailors and their families are paid enough to
- live in dignity?
- "To me, the fact is that we have reached such a low level of funding it
- will soon be impossible to meet the expectations of this nation in executing
- our operational tasks and completing the mission."
- On target, sir.
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