More Thought Should Be Given To The Enlisted Man's Condition

We, in the Navy, shouldered with the responsibility of making the Navy efficient , are very apt to lose the proper perspective and fail to appreciate the Sailor's point of view. The officer at the Navy Department goes home when working hours are over and refreshes himself with other interests.

The officers at sea, on whose shoulders rests the most responsibility, are kept going and occupied all their waking moments, even with messages and "shop" throughout their meals and with scarcely a night passing without demands for their services. The enlisted man stands his watch or does his drill and cleans his station and then only thinks of his condition in general or sleeps.

More thought should be given to the enlisted man's condition. The officers of the Navy should arouse themselves to the vital needs of the thousands of men who are more necessary to make a Navy than the ships themselves.

From USNI PROCEEDINGS
January 1919 Volume 191