Comments on: “I found the limits of my ability, but in doing so liberated myself from fear of failure.”

By: virgil xenophon

virgil xenophon — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:25:05 +0000

Not to knock the guy one bit, because it’s rare that ANYBODY talks about such stuff, but OTH, it’s easy to say now that he’s “got it made” so to speak. Unfortunately if he had voiced such opinions as a JO he never would have become an O-10. Few officers of any branch make flag rank in today’s cut-throat PC world by voicing their true views frankly and publicly. The clones of the Vinegar Joe Stilwell’s of the world need not apply.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:05:35 +0000

Just finished the book, a good read. You really get the sense of ‘constant stress’ these guys live under. His ship did well and he put the credit in the right places back to the crew. I couldn’t help rolling my eyes a bit as he described wonderful meals at his ports of call in Europe and that fact that his wife was able to fly to meet him. I suspect that wasn’t possible for most crew members, huh? His career certainly took off after that experience. He was an O-5 in 1995 and now an O-10! Looks like he left a lot of his contemporaries in the dust.

By: Chap

Chap — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:35:12 +0000

I was lucky my last float–CO and commodore were good mentors and the chain of command fell in to that culture. Then again, it was the gator navy and those guys are different from the CRUDES mafia.

Port Royal, by the way….whoa. Significant problems in execution and I wonder how widespread that was and why it wasn’t caught higher up.

By: Rubber Ducky

Rubber Ducky — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:46:24 +0000

Donny Horner’s excellent essay on last two pages of this week’s Navy Times absolutely hammers the skimmer navy for its wardroom culture. Whether that dysfunctional tribe suffers from fear-of-failure or from just being a bunch of jerks, guys like Jim Stavridis really stand out … as exceptions to the skimmer norm. I say this as a qualified surface warfare officer who has written extensively on that culture and as one who’s been a Stavridis fan since he was a lieutenant. Here’s the link: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/03/navy_horner_swoculture_031509/

Submariners typically have scant experience with the climate in many surface-ship wardrooms. It really is a bit poisonous and harms the mission – success is treated as a zero-sum game. Submariners can’t afford this crap – too easy to get the ocean in the people tank if folks are fighting one another.